


Fade Into You

by aliciameade



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Mutual Pining, No Lesbians Die, Pining, Roommates, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-02 03:13:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16778473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliciameade/pseuds/aliciameade
Summary: Tip for newlyweds: send a wedding invite to every billionaire whose address you can find because it's a 50/50 chance their assistants just send you a perfunctory gift without ever wondering who the hell you are.Or: Beca had a really good terrible idea when she got tired of being broke in New York.





	1. Chapter 1

* * *

Beca wasn’t prepared for how expensive it was to live in New York City. Sure, she’d done her research; she knew it would be costly, but just _how_ costly it was was wreaking havoc on her bank account. Rent, transportation, groceries, household necessities and the _very_ rare luxuries like a concert or theater ticket here or there to keep her sanity had her living paycheck to paycheck. Even bringing two roommates with her to cram into the tiny Brooklyn studio didn’t help her live any more comfortably (considering only one of them chipped in for rent).

Of course, it probably helped her afford to eat.

_Whatever._ The point was that it was not quite the life she envisioned for herself once she landed what she thought was a Big Job.

But at least she had her friends.

“Why do I have so many cousins? And why are they all getting married?”

Beca watched Chloe sitting at their tiny dining table on Sunday afternoon (if you could even call it that) as she tossed aside a just-opened fancy envelope and what Beca assumed to be a wedding invitation. As far as she could remember, it was the fourth Chloe had received so far that year. “How many cousins do you have?”

“Sixteen. And I’m the baby of the family so they’re all either married or about to be. And here I am.” She gestured at nothing specific and sighed. “I can barely pay my share of the groceries. I can’t afford to go to all these weddings so I need to send something off their registry, but I can’t afford that, either.”

“Weddings feel like a ploy to get free shit from everyone you met once in your life,” Beca said as she watched Chloe stress out. “Like, congratulations on deciding to spend your life with one person. Why do _I_ have to reward that?”

“It’s like an expectation. You either have to go to the wedding or send a gift. Or both!” Chloe slid her chair back from the table and took the two steps needed to get to their bed which she threw herself on a bit dramatically. “I’m just going to elope.”

She liked being on the same page as Chloe. “And miss out on all the free swag?” Beca said as she nudged Chloe’s foot with her own.

“I don’t want to be part of the problem!”

“Okay, okay!” Beca laughed. “So elope. Must be nice, though: send out a bunch of invitations to people you know won’t come and get a bunch of free stuff in return.”

“I know,” Chloe mumbled into her pillow. “It’s so messed up.”

A devious thought slid through Beca’s mind and she paused the music she’d been playing. “I need a new Keurig; ours is going to die any day now. I can feel it.”

Chloe turned onto her side to look up at Beca. “What does that have to do with anything?”

She closed her laptop and slid down to lie next to Chloe, eye-to-eye. “I have an idea. But before I tell you, I blame it entirely on Amy’s influence.”

“Why Amy?”

“You’ll see. Now hear me out. What if we sent out wedding invitations saying we’re getting married in, like, Fiji where no one we know can afford to go, and set up a wedding registry somewhere.”

“Beca, that’s, like, fraud. No wonder you blamed it on Amy.” Chloe frowned at her. “And no one would believe we’re getting married anyway.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re not even dating!” Chloe said with a laugh. “And you don’t even like girls!”

_Oh. Right._ There were those little details that the people who would make sense to invite to their wedding would know she and Chloe weren’t together. Not to mention the giant elephant in Beca’s mental room that she was actually very into girls and very, _very_ into Chloe.

Except literally no one in her new adult life knew either of those facts about her. The bisexual thing was weird to bring up unprompted at this point, and when she started dating Jesse in college, everyone just assumed she was straight and made it even weirder to try to correct.

And the Chloe thing, well...that was all sorts of messy and complicated.

“Okay, first of all, a person can fall in love with someone who’s not their usual...type, so anyone who says shit about that can fuck right off.”

Chloe seemed a bit surprised by her declaration but waved for her to continue. “And the fact that it’s me?”

She had to stop herself from saying, “It’s everything.” Instead, she said, “We’ve basically been living together for six years. I don’t think it’s _that_ far-fetched.”

Chloe was quiet for a moment, thinking, and then a slow smile spread across her face. “Beca Mitchell, you devious little devil. You actually think this could work.”

“Well, why wouldn’t it? If Aubrey was getting married in, like, Fiji and you couldn’t afford to go, you’d send her something off her registry, right? That’s what you just said.”

“I would _never_ miss Aubrey’s wedding,” Chloe said earnestly. “She’s my best friend. And she wouldn’t miss mine, either.”

“Okaaaaaay,” Beca drawled. “So we don’t invite our current friends. Or immediate family. Cousins, old coworkers, and friends from high school.”

“Can I invite Mrs. Higgins, my 8th grade choir teacher? She was my favorite teacher.”

“Yeah, I mean as long as she won’t try to show up—wait. You’d actually do this?”

“You’ve had worse ideas.”

“Have I though?” Beca shook her head. “This is dumb. Forget it.” She put away her computer and rolled out of bed. “I’m going to Target if you need anything. I’m out of conditioner.”

“I don’t think I do, but I’ll come with you.”

* * *

When Beca came home from work late on Monday, Chloe was laying in bed, laptop propped on her thighs. She was intently focused on whatever it was she was doing and didn’t look up at Beca’s entrance.

“Hey, weirdo,” Beca said as she kicked out of her shoes and pulled her own computer out of her bag to toss it onto the bed while she changed into comfy lounging clothes. “What are you doing?”

Chloe ignored her for a few more seconds before tapping the trackpad with particularly notable resolution and sitting up. “Hey!”

“Yeah, hey,” Beca laughed. “Seriously, what are you doing? Caught up in an intense Pinterest spiral?”

Chloe shook her head. “Come here; I want to show you something.”

“Is this going to be puppies or something dirty?” Beca knelt on their bed and walked her way up until she was sitting next to Chloe. There was no telling what Chloe had up her sleeve whenever she told Beca she wanted to show her something.

“Neither. Look.” She turned her screen toward Beca.

“What am I looking at?” she asked after a few seconds. “Because that looks like a wedding invitation with our names on it.”

“That’s what it is.”

She looked at the invitation on Chloe’s screen again and then looked at her. Chloe was biting her lip and almost buzzing with excitement. “And why is that a thing that exists?”

“I made it!”

Beca rolled her eyes. “And why did you make it?”

“We need invitations if we’re going to invite people to our wedding.”

“That idea was terrible! I told you to forget it; how much time did you spend on this?” She grabbed the computer away from Chloe so she could zoom in on it. The stationery had been painted with watercolors. It was quite pretty and one Beca wouldn’t be opposed to choosing for her actual wedding.

“A couple hours. I went with a silver and sage palette. I don’t think we’re a couple who has pink in their wedding.”

“Yeah, no,” Beca said, only half-listening because her brain was pretty hung up at the moment seeing the words ‘The Wedding of Beca and Chloe’ in script. “No pink.”

“I just put Fiji because you mentioned it yesterday but we can pick something else. And a date. Oh, and we’re registered at Amazon and IKEA.”

Picking a wedding locale and date with Chloe? Sure. Cool. “Wait. You already registered us?”

“Well, no, not _yet_ ,” Chloe scoffed as if Beca’s question was absurd. “That’s what’s on the registry cards that go with the invitations. We need to make our registries together next weekend.”

“I’m not sure if I should be concerned or proud that you’re so willing to go along with my terrible idea.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Chloe said with a shrug.

Beca was pretty sure a lot of bad things could happen like someone showing up to a non-existent wedding. Then again, all they’d really have to do is apologize and explain that the wedding was called off last-minute and point out their would-be guests would now have a vacation in Fiji without wedding activities to inconvenience them.

“Several things come to mind,” she said as she returned the computer.

Chloe elbowed her. “Okay. We need this to be far enough in advance that it doesn’t feel shotgun, but not too far that everyone can rearrange their schedules for it.”

“So it’s like I forgot to send out the invitations like I said I would and you found them in a box two months after they were supposed to have gone out?”

Chloe looked at her, holding her gaze. “That sounds exactly like something you would do.”

“And we should have it on, like, a Wednesday so it’s super inconvenient. With no holidays around it that people can use to save vacation days.”

“I feel like you’re a secret evil genius,” Chloe said as she flipped through the calendar on her computer. “How about October 2?”

“Perfect.”

They then spent more than an hour Googling Fiji and wedding location options. It took so long because they kept bickering about the venues; Chloe loved one but Beca hated it. Then Beca loved one and Chloe hated it. Every fifteen minutes or so, one of them would remind the other this was all fake and it didn’t matter, and the other would argue that it still had to seem real. They’d finally settled on a resort located on the edge of a rainforest that had more than enough amenities for a destination wedding.

“Well?” Chloe asked when she finished entering the details on the invitation. “Good?”

Beca stared at the screen and what they’d created inviting recipients to their wedding. It made her a little queasy so she swallowed hard. “Perfect.”

They ordered a set of one hundred invitations, response cards, registry cards, and envelopes for it all and agreed to split the expense equally.

“Did we seriously just do that?” Beca asked as she put away her credit card. “That shit is nonrefundable. We just burned five hundred dollars.”

“Think of it as a down payment on my new dinette set.”

“ _Your_ new dinette? Pretty sure that’s going to be ours, babe.”

Chloe cocked an eyebrow at her. “Babe?”

Beca blushed. “Wedding fever. Shut up.”

“You’re adorable,” Chloe said with a laugh as she grabbed Beca by the chin to give her a shake. “Careful, or I might marry you for real.”

She blushed even harder, her heart getting lodged in her throat. “Yeah, right, dude.”

“We’ll see,” Chloe said with a wink before hopping off the bed to leave Beca behind, heart still pounding. “It’s my turn to make dinner. What do you want?”

* * *

“How many names do you have so far?” Chloe asked from her lounging spot lying backward on their bed, feet rocking back and forth next to Beca.

Beca looked at the spreadsheet on her computer; she hated spreadsheets. Loathed them. But Chloe created one for their wedding invitation list so she could have Staples print the addresses on the envelopes once they arrived. Had they planned ahead like actual would-be brides, they’d have had the list ready to import when they ordered the invitations to let the printer do that. But alas. “Thirty-six. It’s hard to figure out who makes sense to invite to my wedding but wouldn’t actually come.”

“If you can get to forty, I can make up the difference.”

“I should invite the CEO of BFD; it’s not like he’d ever come. I’ve never even met him. He’d probably pick one of the expensive gifts, too.”

Chloe sat up quickly and Beca tried not to think about how strong her abs must be to do that. “Beca.”

“What?”

“You’re a genius.” She sat forward so suddenly Beca had a fleeting [stupid] thought that Chloe was about to kiss her but all she did was turn around to sit next to her and look at the list on Beca’s screen. “But don’t add him; I don’t want to put your career at risk. Put your douche boss from Residual Heat instead; there’s no way he’d come.”

“O...kay,” Beca said as she typed his name. She’d have to look up her old studio’s mailing address later. “But why am I a genius?”

“We can invite a handful of CEOs and tech bigwigs who won’t know whether or not we work for them. We send it to their office and their assistant will just buy something off our registry without bothering to look us up.”

“Should I be concerned that your mind is this twisted?” Beca asked as Chloe commandeered her laptop to open Google and start searching.

“Did you forget this was your idea to begin with?”

She watched Chloe pull up the address for the headquarters of Apple. “A little ambitious, don’t you think?”

“Are you kidding? The bigger the company the bigger the chance we get a ‘declines with regret’ and you get that Ableton Push you think I didn’t see you add to our Amazon registry.”

Beca grumbled under her breath to hide her guilt. She’d gotten a little click-happy the other night after a couple beers and added a few non-traditional items to their list like high-end mixing equipment and the new Xbox.

“I’m just going to pick ten companies from the Forbes 500. Let’s see what happens. And now you don’t have to come up with the rest of your list!”

“Sounds great,” she said with a tight-lipped smile.

Something in her gut was telling her they were taking this much too far. But that new Ableton was so, so pretty…

* * *

“Becs, honey,” Chloe said when Beca opened the door to head to work.

Beca turned, patting herself down to make sure she had her keys and phone. “What’s up?”

“Don’t forget to mail the invitations.” She smiled at Beca and pointed at the shoe box on the table containing their pretty little scams. Amy had stuffed the envelopes for them last night and was naturally agreeable to their little business venture. They’d obliged her request to add an absurd inflatable bounce house to their list as payment for her help as long as she promised to never try to set it up in the apartment.

Beca was pretty sure Amy had her fingers crossed behind her back when she agreed.

She picked it up and rapped her fingernails on it. “Are you sure we should do this? I feel kind of guilty.”

“We got our list down to eighty-nine people we barely know—or don’t know at all. It’s going to be fine. Don’t worry.”

“Yeah, okay,” Beca said with a nod, though being told not to worry didn’t magically erase her concerns. “You’re right. I’ll see you after work. It’s my turn to cook, so text me what you want and I’ll pick it up on my way home.”

“I’m totes going to be the one who actually cooks in this marriage, aren’t I?”

“Trust me; it’s for the best. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, sweetie!”

* * *

Beca dropped the stack of thick, fancy envelopes into the outgoing mail drop on the corner by her subway stop on her way to work, and that was it.

The deed was done.

* * *

**_Three days later..._ **

When Beca came home from work she found Chloe at the table but she wasn’t sipping her usual tea and wearing a smile at Beca’s return.

Instead, she was visibly nervous, her arms crossed and eyes fixed on her untouched tea.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Beca asked and moved to sit across from her. “Are you okay?”

“Promise you won’t get mad?” Chloe said in a small voice, eyes refusing to meet Beca’s.

“It’s hard to promise that when I don’t know what’s wrong, but I’ll try. What’s going on?”

Chloe closed her eyes and sighed. “My parents got one of our invitations.”

“What?!” Beca almost launched from her chair; she gripped the edge of the table to stay put and she saw Chloe flinch at her outburst. She tried to lower voice when she demanded, “How?”

“I checked the spreadsheet because I _know_ I didn’t put them on it.” She sounded on the verge of tears. “But it looks like it got corrupted, like it combined with my Christmas card list.”

Beca’s blood ran cold. “My dad’s on your Christmas card list, too.” She’d barely finished the sentence when her phone started ringing in her pocket. She could hear Chloe’s text alerts almost non-stop from where her phone sat on her bedside table. “Who else ended up on the list?”

Chloe closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Beca pulled her phone from her pocket; she already knew. She didn’t even bother looking at the screen as she swiped the screen to answer it. “Hey, Dad.”

_“You and Chloe are getting married?!”_ he crowed into the phone. _“Why didn’t you say anything sooner? Oh, Beca I’m so happy for you both; you’re perfect together!”_

“We’re not—wait.” She straightened. “Huh?”

_“I knew it was only a matter of time.”_

She looked at Chloe across the table who was oblivious to what her father was saying. She seemed to assume it to be terrible the way she was hiding half her face behind her hand. She looked miserable.

“Yeah…” Beca replied. She felt bad; this was all her doing and now Chloe’s going to be humiliated having to tell everyone in her life that she tried to do something dumb. Or that her fake relationship failed. And all her cousins were getting married… “We’re...really happy.”

Chloe’s hand fell and her eyes went wide. “What are you doing?” she whispered.

_“And I’m so happy for you. The date is going to be tough for me to get away in the middle of the semester, but there’s no way I’m going to miss my little girl’s big day. Is there a block of rooms reserved for guests? Should I just give your name when I call?”_

“Um, no. Sorry. We...we splurged on the trip so we couldn’t lock down rooms for everyone.”

_“Don’t you worry; I’ll take care of the rooms. It’s the least I can do. I’ll call the resort and give them my information.”_

It was Beca’s turn to cover her eyes. “Thanks, Dad. That’s so generous.”

_“Anything for you and my soon-to-be daughter-in-law.”_

“Thanks. Listen, I just got home and Chloe and I have a lot to talk about. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

_“Sure, pumpkin.”_

Beca ended the call and set down her phone with a long exhale. “Shit.”

“What happened?” Chloe asked sounding as sheepish as she did excited.

“He’s...going to pay for everyone’s rooms at the resort for our wedding.”

Chloe blinked hard and sat back. “What?”

“He thinks we’re perfect together. And he wasn’t surprised at all. Well, he was surprised by the wedding. Not about us being together.” _Which we’re not._ “What did your parents say?”

Chloe cleared her throat. “They offered to pay for the rehearsal dinner and the reception.”

“What?” Beca said with a barked laugh.

“They’re over the moon for us. Asked what took us so long.” She looked like she wanted to disappear into her chair, which was a unique state for Chloe to be in.

“But you didn’t tell them it’s fake.”

“Did you tell your dad it’s fake?” Chloe countered. “No, you didn’t. You just went along with it.”

Beca sank into her chair, too. “And now our parents are ecstatic we’re getting married.” There was a lot to unpack with that fact and all that came with it. Chloe’s texts were still chiming and a minute later, Beca’s started up, too. “Seriously, who else got invited?”

With a sigh, Chloe slid a piece of paper across the table. Printed on it was a spreadsheet set up just like what they’d made to send to Staples, except it was a mish-mash of their distant cousins, millionaire executives, and people they actually knew. Their parents. The owner of the vet clinic Chloe was interning at.

Aubrey, Emily, and the rest of the Bellas.

“Oh, my God, how did this happen?” Beca said with a groan as she crumpled the paper and tossed it toward the trash can. (She missed.)

“I told you: I don’t know! All I can think is that my files were named List1 and List2 and somehow they got combined or maybe I didn’t delete everything from one of them before I saved it.” She reached across the table and grabbed Beca’s hands. “Beca, I’m so, so sorry. I’ll take care of everything. I’ll let everyone know it was just a prank gone wrong.”

Beca was about to agree when she remembered how excited her father sounded. “Your parents were really happy?”

Chloe managed a sad laugh; she still looked on the verge of tears and Beca couldn’t blame her. She felt like she might cry herself. “My mom said she was starting to get worried you were never going to propose.”

“Oh, my God,” Beca said, blushing hard. “She didn’t even know that we were dating. Or, that we weren’t dating. Whatever. What did you say?”

“I told her I asked you.”

“You proposed to me?!” Beca scoffed. “As if you would! I would totally ask you to marry me before you even had a chance!”

Chloe blinked at her, her worry and sadness starting to fade into a soft smile. “You would?”

Beca realized what she’d said and shook her head. “Nevermind. I should have looked at the envelopes before I dropped them off.”

“You didn’t have a reason to. This isn’t your fault.”

“Except that it was all my idea?” Beca said with a crooked smile. “You’d think Amy would have realized they were wrong when she was stuffing them. She knew the plan.”

Chloe sighed and let go of Beca’s hands to run her own through her hair. “Something tells me she knew they got messed up.”

“Why would you think that?”

Chloe shot her a look.

“Because it’s Amy. Right.” She sighed, too. “I need a drink.” Beca stood up and headed for the fridge, the top of which held their liquor collection. “What do you want?”

“Whiskey, neat,” Chloe answered as she pushed aside her tea.

“Yeah. Me, too.”

* * *

They waited until they were both two whiskeys in before they agreed to get on Skype with Aubrey.

_“This is how you tell me you two are a thing?”_ Aubrey said as she waved the invitation in front of her camera. _“A little warning would have been nice.”_

“It all happened so fast, Bree,” Chloe said. “I guess living together in such close quarters...well, it brought some things to light.”

It was so convincing that Beca almost believed her. Except she didn’t know why they were lying to Aubrey. Not wanting to immediately disappoint their excited parents was one thing, but going along with it with Aubrey… She nudged Chloe from her spot next to her where they sat closely in bed so they could both be mostly in frame and threw her a look she hoped read, _What the hell are you doing?_

Chloe just winked at her and slipped her arm behind her to wrap around her waist and pull her closer.

_“Well, as disappointed as I am that you didn’t think to tell me, I’m thrilled for you both.”_

“You are?” Beca scoffed.

_“Why wouldn’t I be? You two are good for each other. And I know you’ll take care of my best friend.”_

Beca had to fight hard to not blush. “Yeah. Well...that’s the plan.”

_“So, Fiji? I’ve always wanted to go! Do you have a wedding planner? And Chloe, I can’t believe you haven’t asked me to be your Maid of Honor yet! We made a pact!”_

Chloe cleared her throat. “Right! I was getting to that! I’d love it if you’d be my Maid of Honor.”

“What are you doing?” Beca muttered from the side of her mouth.

“Asking my bestie to be in our wedding,” Chloe muttered in return.

_“I’d be honored!”_ Aubrey said with a bright grin. _“Now you have to let me take over the planning. You can’t do this all by yourselves. Put me in touch with your contact at the resort and I’ll take it over. What have you arranged so far?”_

“Well, we could barely get the invitations out without trouble…” Chloe started and Beca elbowed her. “So we haven’t really had a chance to get going yet. We haven’t even put down the deposit to reserve the space yet—”

_“Don’t say another word,”_ Aubrey said with her hand up. _“I’m going to take care of that as my gift to you both.”_

“Thanks, Bree. That means so much.” Chloe grasped Beca’s hand and pulled it up to kiss it.

Beca just stared at her in shock.

“Right, Becs?”

“Uh, yeah. Right. Thanks, Aubrey,” Beca offered. “We gotta go, though,” she added, desperate to end the torture.

_“Okay. Remember to send me that info and I’ll send you the confirmations once I get it taken care of this week.”_

“Totes. I’ll text you later.”

_“Perfect. Have a good night, you two!”_

“Bye!” Chloe chirped and Beca offered a weak wave as Chloe disconnected the call.

“Oh, my God, Chloe, we can’t keep this up!” she said as soon as the screen was blank. “What are we doing?!”

“Everyone’s so excited for us; I don’t want to disappoint them.” Chloe turned a little to look at her and she was so close Beca could see the different specks of light and dark in Chloe’s eyes. “We’ll tell them soon.”

“Aubrey’s going to spend money on this. We can’t let her do that.”

“I’ll wait a few days to send her the info and then we’ll just tell it’s off.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

* * *

Not two hours had passed when both their phones chimed with a group text from Aubrey to the two of them. Chloe was taking a bath when it came in so Beca opened it and read it aloud so she could hear it.

_“Was too excited! Looked up the resort info and got it booked._ Oh, my God. _They said they didn’t have any record of your interest_ —gee, I wonder why— _and the day was already booked for some corporate retreat but I got them to move it for the wedding._ Of course she did. _Good thing you let me take care of it! You might not have had a venue._ Damn it, Chloe!”

“Well, it’s not my fault!”

“Then whose fault is it?!”

Nothing but silence followed from behind the shower curtain.


	2. Chapter 2

Amy unsurprisingly declared her ignorance of the invitation situation when Beca confronted her, stating she assumed they’d added their parents and the Bellas to their list as a joke, or a way to get more free stuff.

There wasn’t much Beca could say to that. It wasn’t Amy’s fault the list was wrong.

* * *

Two days later when Beca opened their mailbox, she pulled out one of their returned RSVP cards.

From Glen Hauenstein, the President of Delta Airlines.

“Holy shit.” She rushed up the stairs and almost fell through the door in her haste. In the absolute chaos they’d created in their personal lives, she’d forgotten what had started it: one teeny tiny gigantically unethical idea.

“Hey, you,” Chloe said with a calm smile over a cup of tea.

Beca held up the envelope. “Someone replied.”

“Oh, my God! Who?” Chloe set down her cup and rushed to join Beca still standing barely inside the door.

“Delta.”

“Shut UP!” Chloe said with a shove to Beca’s shoulder. It was so hard it actually threw Beca against the door. “Sorry. Let’s open it,” she said as she snatched the envelope out of Beca’s hand and ripped open its seal. She pulled out the RSVP card. “Glen regrets to inform us that he cannot attend,” Chloe said with a grin as she waved the card in front of Beca’s face.

“Oh, thank God,” Beca said with a sigh of relief.

“Wait; there’s something else in here.” Chloe reached back into the envelope to pull out what looked like a blue credit card. “Beca…”

“What? What is it?”

“It’s a five thousand dollar Delta gift card.”

Beca dropped her purse. “What?!” She grabbed the card out of Chloe’s hand and flipped it over. Surely, it had to be fifty dollars, or maybe five hundred, but… “Holy shit. Holy shit!” She threw it across the room like it was on fire.

“No! Don’t lose it!” Chloe chased after it and found it where it had slid under the edge of their bed.

“We can’t keep that, Chloe!”

“Well, it’s not like we can send it back!”

“Yes, we can!” Beca said, clapping with each word to make her point. “That was the plan. We can send something back with the sad news of our break-up and it’s all fixed!”

“He _runs_ the airline, baby. It’s not like this actually cost him anything.”

Beca was about to reply when Chloe’s statement resonated with her—one word in particular. She grit her teeth. “Fine. I’ll think about it.”

“Good.” Chloe sat down on their bed and kicked her feet excitedly. “And now we know it works!”

Beca rolled her eyes at how fucking cute she was being. She knew this was bad. It was so, so bad. But Chloe liked it. Chloe wanted to pretend to be engaged a little longer and...Beca was good with that. She took off her shoes to cross the room and climb onto the bed and flop into her spot. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to hell for this.”

Chloe giggled and turned to crawl over until she was dropping down to kiss Beca’s cheek. “I’m going anyway. It’ll be nice to have you there with me.”

Beca felt herself blush at the thoughts that flooded her imagination as to what Chloe could have done to warrant her confidence in her afterlife.

“So, where would we go? If we keep it, I mean.”

“Apparently, we’re going to Fiji if we don’t stop this runaway train.”

Chloe shrugged next to her. “I’ll take care of it.”

* * *

More RSVPs trickled in over the next couple of weeks. Cousins and coworkers who could not attend. Parents who would. Bellas who would. CEOs who regretfully couldn’t. And it was never the right time to call off the wedding—someone else was going through a break-up, or was sick, or a mom had a bad day at work.

There was always a reason. The one time Chloe couldn’t come up with one, Beca blurted some lie about her dad and Sheila starting couples therapy that day so they absolutely could not do it then.

Their fake wedding was two weeks away and neither of them had figured out how to call it off.

It was Saturday afternoon when someone buzzed their door.

“UPS!” crackled through when Beca asked who it was and she buzzed them up.

“What did you order?” she said when she dropped the delivered Amazon box onto the bed where Chloe sat.

“Nothing.” She looked up at Beca and Beca knew what she was thinking. “Get the scissors; let’s open it!”

Beca rushed to grab them from the drawer and returned to slice the tape. She let Chloe pop the sides open and pull out a rectangular package wrapped in white and silver paper. There was a slip of paper with it and she read, “ _To Chloe and Beca. May you live happily ever after. I’m so sorry I cannot make it to your special day, but I will be with you in spirit. Never stop singing your love to each other. Congratulations. Love, Mrs. Higgins._ Oh, my God, Mrs. Higgins!” she added with a squeal. “Should we open it? Or should we wait until after the wedding?”

“Chloe,” Beca said slowly. “There’s not going to be a wedding. Remember?”

“Oh, right. I didn’t mean...nevermind. So should we open it?”

Beca sighed and sank onto the bed. This ruse was taking a serious toll on her morals even if it was pervertedly fun and exciting. “I guess?”

Chloe tore into the paper with another squeal to reveal the set of eight hundred-thread count navy blue Egyptian cotton sheets from their registry. “Oh, heck yes!” she said with a grin as she tossed the package in the air. “I’m going to go wash these and they’re going on our bed tonight.”

Beca expected to have a fitful rest when she slid into the luxuriously silky sheets that they basically stole. But when Chloe slid up behind her and draped her arm over her waist while she kissed Beca’s shoulder, she forgot, at least for a little bit, that what they were doing was wrong.

Because something about it all felt so right.

* * *

“Remember how you were going to call off the wedding?” Beca asked as she zipped her suitcase while sipping from her fresh cup of coffee thanks to her new Keurig. They’d be in a cab to the airport in the next fifteen minutes for a two-week trip to Fiji, courtesy Delta Airlines and the Mitchell and Beale families.

Somehow an entire wedding got planned without either of them having to lift a finger _(thanks, Aubrey)_ , everything from rehearsal to dinner to the photographer to the ceremony and reception and the week-long honeymoon that the Bellas all chipped in for: a private bungalow on a neighboring island away from their guests.

“Yeah, you two are a regular Bonnie and...Bonnie,” Amy said as she sat on her suitcase and waved Beca over to zip it.

“Thanks again for your help, Ames.”

“Don’t mention it.”

She watched Chloe double-check the garment bag that contained their dresses. Beca didn’t even remember how it happened; one afternoon they were drinking white wine and suddenly they were in Macy’s picking out dresses suitable for an island wedding. “I will. But let’s get to Fiji first. We’ll announce it at the rehearsal dinner and then we can run off and do our own thing for the rest of the trip.”

“I seriously can’t believe we’re doing this. What is wrong with us?” Beca asked as she shoved her various chargers into her carry-on and made sure her passport was in her purse.

“We’re seizing the day.” Chloe swatted her ass with her own passport before putting it away and opening the door. “Let’s go get married.”

“We’re not getting married!” Beca had to say it for herself as much as for Chloe, it seemed. And that was a little...confusing for Beca.

“You know what I mean. Now, let’s go!”

* * *

Twenty hours on an airplane was _a lot_ , even with two stops along the way. The longest break was in Los Angeles and that was after a paltry six-and-a-half hour flight. Beca didn’t even need to stretch her legs yet.

It wasn’t all bad, though.

It was nice being upgraded to First Class when they checked in. They’d done it at a self-serve kiosk only for it to send them to the counter. The agent informed them that as a guest of the airline, they would be upgraded. Chloe had looked at Beca with such shock that Beca had to be the one to thank the agent and take their new boarding passes for seats 3A and 3B.

“Uh, excuse me? What just happened?” Amy asked from where she waited behind them.

“We got bumped to First Class,” Beca said, still feeling woozy from it. “I guess because we booked the tickets with the gift card? Whatever; let’s go before they change their mind.”

“You bitches,” Amy grumbled. “You better bring a hot towel back to me in steerage.”

It was nice to not have to sit sandwiched between Chloe and Amy for twenty hours. It was nice to hear Chloe tell the flight attendant they were wedding-bound, even if it was just a ploy to get free champagne (which would have been free anyway because they were in First Class, but Chloe seemed tickled to share the information regardless).

It was nice to have Chloe flip the armrest up between them to lean over and snuggle into Beca while they both settled to sleep for as much as the trans-Pacific journey as possible. Beca moved her arm to put it around Chloe’s waist so she could pull her in closer. And it was nice.

* * *

“Oh, hell no,” Beca said when she stepped onto the tarmac in Nadi for their connection to Savusavu and saw what was waiting for them. “That’s a fake airplane. Can it even carry our baggage?”

“Well, we all know you have enough emotional baggage for the three of us,” Amy said under her breath and Beca ignored her.

“It’ll be fine, Becs,” Chloe said as she nudged her to start walking toward the plane, which only had six windows along its fuselage.

“I really don’t want to die before our fake wedding.” She let the man waiting by the door help her up the two steps and into the tiny aircraft. She even had to duck so her head wouldn’t hit the ceiling and she yelped when someone grabbed her from behind.

“I promise not to let anything bad happen to you,” Chloe said into her ear before kissing her cheek and peeling off to sit.

It was single seating along the sides of the plane which, by Beca’s count, could seat twelve people. There were only five aboard: their party of three and what appeared to be a couple based on how affectionate they were being even across the narrow aisle between their seats. Chloe seemed to notice them, too, because she reached across the aisle to find and hold Beca’s hand.

* * *

Just as Aubrey said would happen, there was a van waiting for them when they landed at Savusavu Airport. Beca wasn’t sure how she survived that last leg of the journey between the trying take-off (seriously, it sounded like the engines had asthma) and landing on what amounted to little more than a dirt road. She’d sweat through the back of her tee and it hadn’t been that warm on the plane.

“You okay?” Chloe said with amusement as she plucked Beca’s shirt from where it clung to her skin while they climbed into the van. “You made it in one piece. Told you I’d take care of you.”

“Shut up,” she grumbled but couldn’t help but smile a little at the way Chloe looped their arms together to sit close. It seemed the other couple from the plane wasn’t traveling to their resort and the three of them had the van to themselves.

“Ladies, welcome,” their driver said. “My name is James. I’ll be taking you out to Koro Sun. Vijay will make sure you are comfortable.” He nodded at the man who’d placed their baggage in the back of the van. He was now armed with a tray of rolled white cloths.

“Chilled towel?” he said with a subtle accent as he offered one to Amy with a pair of tongs.

“Ooh, don’t mind if I do,” she said as she promptly unfurled it and put it under her shirt where Beca knew it was getting tucked under her boobs.

“Yeah, thanks,” Beca said after Chloe had accepted hers. She was still working on unrolling it to dab at her face when she hissed at cold landing on the back of her neck.

“You seem to need it more than I do,” Chloe whispered as she massaged her neck a little through the cool cloth. “Ooh, drinks!”

Beca blinked out of the daze she’d been put into to find a green coconut with the top cut off and a brightly colored straw and tiny umbrella sticking out of it. “Is there alcohol in that?” she asked as the man prepared to hand one to her.

“No, but I’m happy to add some.” He was reaching for a bottle of something dark from a spot next to their seat and pouring before she’d even agreed.

“Thanks,” she said when he finally passed it to her. She took a long, long drink. It was amazing. And much-needed.

“Yeah, I’ma need you to hit me up with a spot of that,” Amy said, stretching her arm out and waving her coconut in Vijay’s face.

“Me, too, please,” Chloe said with a polite smile. “Good idea, babe.”

Beca shrugged and took another sip. “When in Rome.”

“Yeah, Shawshank? I thought Chloe was the one who failed Maps? We’re in Fiji. Not Spain.”

She rolled her eyes and laughed to herself. She was in Fiji...to _not_ get married.

_What the everloving fuck?_

* * *

“Okay, ladies, here we are! Welcome to Koro Sun Resort.”

Beca peered out the dark window of the van. Despite the tint, it was clear they were deeply in paradise. She could tell the water was blue, or maybe even turquoise. There were trees everywhere and if there weren’t trees there were beaches. Pure, white sandy beaches.

“Coming through! Ladies first!” Amy announced as soon as Vijay opened their door. Beca watched her march toward what appeared to be the main entrance.

“After you,” Beca said with a nod to Chloe.

“Oh, wow,” Chloe said once she was standing outside the van. “Becs, hurry up.” She reached back and took Beca’s hand to pull her out. “Look at this.”

“Oh...wow,” Beca echoed. It was...beyond anything she could imagine. It smelled like rain and flowers and the sea and the only things she could hear were the breeze, birds, and what sounded like a waterfall. She felt Chloe’s arm around her waist.

“This is so romantic,” Chloe said quietly. “Come on; let’s go check in. I want to see our room. Aubrey said it’s an ‘Edgewater Villa.’”

* * *

True to its name, their private villa was situated against the edge of a lagoon inset from the ocean. They had to get to the front door via a footbridge over a private pool through a garden.

“Okay, I’m here for this,” Beca said as she made her way through the house. It was epically luxurious without crossing the line into tacky territory. Everything felt organic, made from stone and woven plant fibers with windows everywhere to remind them they were surrounded on three sides by water (the fourth was curtained by the rainforest).

Chloe stopped in the kitchen to see what was stocked for them in the refrigerator so Beca kept going until she found a bedroom.

“Oh...right,” she said to herself as she dropped her carry-on on a chair.

“What’s wrong?” Chloe said from behind her before joining her in the center of the room.

“Nothing,” Beca said quickly. “I just...nevermind. It’s dumb.”

Chloe ran her fingers up Beca’s back to make her scrunch up her shoulders. “I’m sure it’s not dumb. Tell me.”

Beca sighed and gestured at the singular king-sized bed. “I was just surprised is all.”

Chloe smiled and gave her a tug toward the bed. “What—because there’s only one bed? Did you forget we sleep with each other every night? Don’t get shy on me now.”

“No,” Beca mumbled. Her face felt hot at Chloe’s choice of words. She let Chloe pull her along until they were both crawling up the bed to flop on their backs to try it out.

“See?” Chloe reached her arm out across the ample space between them. “Way more room than our bed at home. And comfier,” she added as she wriggled around until she was basically wrapped around Beca to defeat her own point of having more space. “Besides, we’re getting married.” Chloe poked Beca’s cheek and then kissed it. “It’s a little late to not want to sleep with me.”

“We’re not getting married.” Beca turned her head and looked down her nose at the bright eyes and giddy smile looking back at her and she shook her head. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Mm, anything you want,” Chloe said before kissing her cheek again and then leaping off the bed. “C’mon! There’s a ladder right off our balcony that takes us down to the water! We need to go swimming!”

Beca cleared her throat and sat up to watch Chloe throw open one of her suitcases and pull out a white bikini and start stripping right there in plain sight. “Yeah, I just…” She gawked when Chloe’s bra came off despite her back being turned toward Beca and having seen it a thousand times already. “I just need a minute after that flight.”

* * *

“Should we be concerned we haven’t seen Amy since we got here?” Beca asked as she combed out her wet hair.

Chloe’s own wet hair thwacked her arm as she flipped it over to put some type of product in it. They were wearing matching white bathrobes fresh from their showers. “She probably has a new boyfriend fanning her with palm fronds in her private courtyard. I wouldn’t worry about her.”

Beca snorted and reached for her moisturizer. “So what’s the deal—do we need to make reservations for dinner? I don’t want to have to wait for a table. I’m fucking tired. What time is it at home?”

“We’re eighteen hours behind New York.”

She glanced at a clock on the wall of the ensuite bathroom and did the math. “So, midnight. Cool.”

“I know; I’m tired, too. But we have to hold out as long as we can to get switched over. I don’t want to be jet-lagged all week when we only have two weeks here.” Chloe’s hair whipped her again as she straightened.

“So, reservations?” Beca reminded as she watched Chloe get the part in her hair straight.

“Oh! No, we don’t need to make reservations. Bree said we get VIP treatment because of our wedding.”

“Right.” Beca looked at their reflections in the wide mirror and Chloe smiled at her through it. She wondered for the umpteenth time how they let this charade get this far. But they were there, so she decided to make the most of it while it lasted. “I’m not going to blow-out my hair. Or put on makeup tonight,” she said as though declaring world peace. “We don’t know anyone here, so fuck it.”

Chloe laughed and bumped her hip with her own. “You don’t need it anyway.”

Beca blushed and reached for her eyeliner as she leaned in toward the mirror.

“You just said you aren’t wearing makeup tonight.”

She paused and looked at Chloe through the mirror again. “This doesn’t count.”

Chloe just shook her head at her and turned to leave. “I’m going to get dressed. Meet me out front.”

“Sure.” She watched Chloe walk away for a second too long because she saw her drop her robe right before she was completely out of sight in their bedroom. It made her hand too unsteady to get her eyeliner on straight so she tossed it back in her bag. “Fuck it.”

* * *

Once again as Aubrey had promised, they were treated as honored guests as soon as Beca gave the maître d′ her name. Dinner was exquisite, a three-course meal that Beca could only assume was locally sourced.

They were strolling along a path, going opposite the way they came so they could explore a little when the thumping rhythm of bass started mixing with the natural sounds of the environment.

“Do you hear that?” Chloe asked just as Beca noticed it.

“Yeah. It sounds like it’s ahead of us. Let’s check it out.”

They kept walking until they found the source: the resort’s nightclub. “Ooh, a bar! C’mon, I need something fruity with an umbrella in it,” Chloe said with a mischievous smile as she grabbed Beca’s hand to head toward the club.

They were carded at the door—probably Beca’s fault—but as soon as Chloe showed her ID they were both waved through with enthusiastic greetings and shown to a small high-top table marked with a _Reserved_ sign and a waiter descended upon them before they’d even finished hopping onto their stools.

“Welcome to Latitude 17, ladies,” a handsome man wearing a tropical flower-covered shirt said as he placed a pair of napkins on the table. “Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials. We’re so happy you chose to spend it with us.”

“Thank you!” Chloe said. “So are we!”

Beca held her tongue; there was no need to tell this stranger they weren’t going to go through with it.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“Something tropical,” Chloe answered. “And strong.”

“Me, too,” Beca added. “And make sure hers has a tiny umbrella in it. Please.”

“Of course,” he said with a nod before disappearing toward the bar.

“Okay, I could get used to this,” Chloe said as her hand patted Beca’s knee.

Beca noticed she didn’t remove it once the patting stopped. She hoped their drinks would arrive as quickly as they were seated. “Yeah, same.” She looked around the bar and its tropical theme, hibiscus and greenery everywhere, even hanging from the DJ booth on the other side of the room. It was perfect, and being treated like royalty wasn’t too shabby either. “Is this the only bar in the place I wonder?”

“I haven’t looked at the map yet, so I don’t know. Why?”

“Because Amy’s not here, so there must be another,” she said with a smile and it sent Chloe into a fit of giggles. “Okay, calm down. You’re not even drinking yet; it wasn’t that funny.” She’s not quite sure why she would ever tell Chloe to stop laughing; she looked beautiful when she laughed.

“Maybe she’s not finished with her new boyfriend yet. Ooh!”

Beca turned at Chloe’s excitement to see their waiter returning with two fancy and fruity-looking pink drinks in hand. They both had tiny umbrellas and wedges of pineapple on the rims.

“Mai tais for the lovely ladies in love,” he said with a grand smile as he placed the glasses on the table. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks!” Chloe said as she picked hers up right away. “What should we toast to?”

Beca was slow to respond, still hearing the waiter’s words pinballing around in her brain. “Um,” she said as she picked up her drink and turned to face Chloe. She hoped her undue nerves weren’t obvious.

“I know! To you,” Chloe said before tapping her glass to Beca’s.

“Why me?” she asked before Chloe got the straw to her lips.

Chloe smiled at her. “Because we wouldn’t be here if not for you.”

“Don’t remind me,” Beca said as she rolled her eyes. The guilt came in waves and she felt it rolling in.

“No, no. Stop it,” Chloe said firmly. “We’re in this amazing place and I wouldn’t change it for the world. We’ll deal with our little...situation when the time comes. Let’s just enjoy this while we can, okay?” She punctuated her request with her sad puppy eyes and as usual, it rendered Beca helpless in arguing.

She felt a smile tug at her lips and it made Chloe’s grow until they were grinning at each other. “Fine!” she said. “To me!”

They tapped their glasses again and drank, both wincing at the same time.

“Okay, when I said strong…” Chloe said with a strained voice.

Beca coughed. “They listened.” It burned. And it was delicious. “Here,” she said as she plucked the paper umbrella out of her glass to drop it into Chloe’s. “Since you love them so much.”

Chloe squealed at the addition and took another long sip. “Hurry up and drink that. I want to dance.”

Beca just laughed and shook her head. “Of course you do. And I’m trying! This isn’t really something I can chug.”

Chloe cocked an eyebrow at her.

Her heart sank to her feet. “Chlo—no. That’s not—no.”

“On the count of three! One—”

It was Chloe’s favorite thing. Challenge Beca to a drinking contest. She figured out the little game years ago for the sole purpose of getting Beca drunker, but Beca participated in it nonetheless because competition ran in their blood. “No, I can’t, I’m not even drunk yet—”

“Two—”

“I wasn’t—”

“Three!”

“No! Baby, I wasn’t trying to—shit!” She threw the straw out of her glass to bring it to her lips and start. It burned and made her eyes water and when she slammed her glass down as carefully and victoriously as she could, saw that Chloe hadn’t even started. She was just staring at her over her untouched glass. “What happened?” Beca said with a laugh. “I’m not the only one getting drunk tonight. Go!”

Chloe’s eyelashes fluttered and then she was drinking until there was nothing but ice in her glass. Her face was flushed when she set it down. “Okay. Come dance.” Chloe grabbed Beca’s hand to drag her off her stool and toward the dance floor.

It wasn’t like Beca was resisting, though; she just wasn’t as quick as Chloe off her seat so she ended up being dragged along trying to catch up until Chloe finally stopped in the middle of the semi-crowded dance floor and turned around to face her, already moving to the beat. Beca didn’t know the song but it had a smooth house beat that wasn’t too fast for her liking. It was easy to slide into the rhythm and soon they were dancing in sync.

She and Chloe had spent countless hours on dance floors together over the years. Dancing with Chloe was as natural as breathing for Beca, though it had taken most of their first year as friends to reach that point.

Now she had no hesitations about reaching out and pulling Chloe against her after she’d turned her back to Beca. Her blood was warm and watching Chloe’s hips in her tight white capris wasn’t helping the matter so she decided to own it and wrap her arm around Chloe’s waist while their hips rocked together.

Chloe glanced over her shoulder at the contact and Beca could tell she was warm, too. The alcohol was probably starting to work its magic on her as well, Beca figured, as she winked at Chloe.

She wasn’t really trying to convey anything with it. Nothing more than a message that she was having fun. But it seemed to translate a little differently for Chloe because suddenly she was turning in Beca’s hold to drape an arm over Beca’s shoulder while the other wrapped around her waist to pull their bodies even closer.

They were close enough that Beca could smell the rum on her breath. It felt infinitely hotter on the dance floor and she was sure Chloe could feel the way her lower back was sweating through the thin material of her tank top. She was grateful she had opted for shorts because she was sure she’d be dead if she’d worn jeans.

She was also sure she should be dead from how intensely Chloe was looking at her. They were just _dancing;_ there was no need for her to make that much eye contact. Yet, she was, and Beca wasn’t sure her heart was up to the task of dealing with it. It was really being put through its paces with how Chloe’s gaze kept drifting to what Beca thought might be her lips, though it was equally possible she was looking at, like, her chin. Or her cleavage, which Beca knew was readily visible in the low scoop neck of her top. She knew if she glanced down, she’d have a good view of Chloe’s, too, thanks to her halter top.

She pulled away as soon as the thought crossed her mind. “I need another drink!” she explained when Chloe looked at her questioningly. She was desperate for space but she didn’t get much; Chloe grabbed her hand to follow her off the floor and back to their table. Beca didn’t sit and neither did Chloe; instead, Chloe stood impossibly close to her until Beca had to tug her hand out of Chloe’s grip to sling her arm around her waist instead.

That seemed to make Chloe happy and she did the same, her fingers tucked into the front pocket of Beca’s denim shorts.

“Where’s our guy?” Beca asked as she looked around the room to get her brain and body to cool off.

“There he is!” Chloe said as she hopped a little and waved him down. They had fresh mai tais in short-order.

“I’m not chugging this one,” Beca said as she picked up her glass.

“Wait!” Chloe said before she could take a drink. “We have to make a toast.”

“We already made a toast,” Beca said as she tried to angle herself so she could look at Chloe without being an inch from her face. “To me, remember?”

“That was _my_ toast.” She felt fingers walk up her back and then glide down to hold her waist again. “It’s your turn.”

Beca just shook her head. She wasn’t going to argue it. “Okay, fine. To us.” She smiled and tapped her glass to Chloe’s and drank. She watched Chloe take a sip, too, on a delay again just as she had been when they were supposed to race.

She didn’t think too hard about why that was.

That was a hopeless path of pain to travel down.

Instead, she focused on how nice it was to be able to hold Chloe as she was and how Chloe was holding her the same way and allowed herself to indulge just a little bit in the fantasy they’d created for themselves. That she was at an island resort with her fiancée set to be married in two short days and—

She grabbed Chloe’s hand from around her waist and pulled it up to the table between them. “A ring!”

“What?”

“You don’t have an engagement ring!” She slapped her own left hand on the table, foregoing her hold on Chloe to do so. “Neither do I! If you proposed to me, I should have a ring. And so should you! I wouldn’t not give you a ring. People are going to expect to see them. They’re always obsessed with engagement rings.”

“We’ll just tell them we left them at home to not risk losing them.”

“No!” Beca said. It was loud enough that she saw Chloe flinch. “No,” she tried again. “We’re going to take the shuttle into town first thing in the morning before everyone shows up and we’re going to get engagement rings.”

Chloe’s hand turned to interlace with Beca’s. “That’s really sweet, but I don’t really have money for an engagement ring.”

“We’ll get fake ones. Or some kind of local thing and we’ll tell people we waited until we were here to get something to remember this by.” She watched Chloe’s face soften until it looked like she was maybe going to cry. “Dude, what?”

Chloe laughed a little and shook her head as she cradled Beca’s cheek with her free hand for a second. “You’re really a romantic, aren’t you.”

“What? No,” Beca said, offended for some reason as she tried to crane her neck away from the touch that felt like heaven.

“Yes, you are,” Chloe said firmly before leaning in to kiss Beca’s cheek. She seemed to hesitate before pulling back and Beca’s heart stopped. Then she moved in to kiss her again, this time close enough to the corner of Beca’s mouth to make her head swim. “Let’s finish our drinks so we can go to bed if we have to be up early to go ring shopping.”

“Yeah,” Beca croaked. “Okay.”

* * *

Beca fell asleep easily, sole credit to the jetlag.

But she woke up two hours later thinking it was time to get up for work only to check her phone to see that it was barely 1:00 am. Any other normal morning at home, she’d have rolled over and fallen right back asleep instead of getting up. But now her brain was awake on New York time and thinking about all the things that happened on their first day on the island.

Chloe changing into her bathing suit. Seeing Chloe drop her robe. Dinner and everyone treating them to the pinnacle of romance. The club. The way Chloe had looked at her, had danced with her, had almost kissed her. Well, she _had_ kissed her, but it was an almost kiss. And the way Chloe had looked at her when she was blathering on and on about rings.

“Can’t sleep?” Chloe murmured next to her.

Her body must have been as restless as her mind. “I’m usually getting up for work right now.” She felt the bed shift and then Chloe’s arm slid around her middle, high enough that Beca had to stop the choking sound from escaping her throat because Chloe’s forearm was definitely touching Beca’s boobs. It was probably an accident, just a miscalculation of an angle, but Chloe didn’t correct it.

She felt lips against her bare shoulder next to the strap of her pajama tank and tried not to shiver. “Pretend you get to sleep in.”

“Trying,” she said with a sigh as she tried to clear her mind of everything yammering in her head.

“Nervous about seeing everybody tomorrow?”

She hadn’t been, but now that Chloe brought it up… “Yeah.”

Chloe squeezed her a little and the motion pushed her arm _even more_ against her boobs. “It’ll be okay. We just have to act like we’re in love.”

Beca sighed but managed to smile a little into the darkness. “I don’t know how good at that I’ll be,” she said, knowing full well she was absolutely head over heels in love with Chloe and no acting would be necessary. She’d been acting like she _wasn’t_ in love with her for years. It would come as a relief to not have to be in a constant mode of restraint. She could take her hand if she wanted, or hug her, or fetch her a fresh drink, or fix an errant lock of hair without raising suspicion.

Chloe chuckled behind her and gave her arm a wiggle. Beca knew it was only meant to jostle her but it scraped right up and over her barely clothed nipples and she shoved her face into her pillow to muffle her gasp.

“I’m pretty sure we know how to act like we’re in love.”

“Mhm,” Beca choked out.

“You know,” Chloe continued and Beca wished more than anything she was narcoleptic so she wouldn’t have to endure it any longer. Her arm started withdrawing and the relief it provided was short-lived because instead of her arm, Chloe’s hand rested on Beca’s stomach. It moved back and forth slowly and Beca wanted to scream. It wasn’t fair, and it was also wrong. She was getting painfully turned on when all Chloe was doing was being her usual touchy self. “People are going to expect us to kiss.”

Beca hadn’t considered that detail in the grand scheme of their scheme. The concept sucked every molecule of oxygen from her lungs. She tried to say, “Oh?” but it came out more like the squawk of one of the parrots she could hear in the trees behind their villa over the sound of the rain. She could feel Chloe’s breath on her shoulder and she twisted her pillow in her fist. It was pure agony.

“Mhm.”

She had to clear her throat because trying to speak failed the first time. “We’ll...cross that bridge when we get to it.” She felt Chloe’s lips on her shoulder again and had to stifle a shiver. The torture needed to end, and fast. “I, uh, think I can fall asleep now.”

“Okay. G’night.”

“Night.”

She didn’t fall asleep for hours.

* * *

_**To be continued...** _


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick note to say I'm so grateful for the response y'all have given this story! I really had the best time writing it. Thank you for reading.

* * *

“Sweetie, you need to get up. The shuttle leaves in twenty minutes.”

Beca groaned and turned her face to her pillow; Chloe appeared showered and dressed for the day and whatever attempts she’d made to wake Beca earlier had failed and now she had almost no time to make herself presentable. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” she grumbled into her pillow.

“I tried and you told me to fuck off,” Chloe laughed. “Now get up!”

Beca yelped at the hand that connected with her ass with a crack and she shot out of bed. “Dude!”

Chloe laughed and then her laugh turned into a smirk as her eyes slid down a little. “You might want to fix your shirt, there, Becs.”

“What?” Beca looked down and was horrified to find her entire right breast on display where her tank had twisted in her fit of getting out of bed. “Oh, my God,” she said, face hot as she ripped it back into place.

“Don’t worry; your fiancée doesn’t mind.” Chloe winked before leaving Beca to her embarrassment. “Hurry up! You’re down to fifteen minutes!”

Beca swore under her breath as she ran to take the fastest shower she could. She’d have to be humiliated about her accidental exposure later.

* * *

“Okay, so the concierge said there’s definitely a jewelry shop here,” Chloe said as they climbed out of the shuttle at the edge of a massive open-air farmers’ market. “And the driver said it should be at the other end of the market, so...come on!” She snagged Beca’s hand and started leading them until Beca sped up to be able to walk alongside her.

She didn’t let go of Chloe’s hand and she noticed Chloe didn’t drop hers, either. She supposed it was so they wouldn’t get separated in the organized chaos of the market, but it was nice nonetheless. She was glad she hadn’t had time to wash her hair before sprinting to the shuttle; the morning humidity was heavy and it would have made it unbearable to be outside with wet hair. As it was, she was going to need another shower before she had to face their families and friends and put on an act.

Chloe still looked amazing, which was zero percent shocking to Beca. She was in agonizingly short khaki shorts and a white tank top and with her hair pulled back into a ponytail there was so very much skin showing. It made Beca feel like a leper despite Chloe telling her she looked cute. It was just cut-offs and an old Superman logo tee she’d ripped the sleeves off years ago, but if Chloe approved of it, then okay. Fine.

“Look, there it is!” Chloe said, pointing ahead of them at the hand-painted sign that read JEWELRY.

When they stepped in, they were greeted by a middle-aged woman with a smile. “Are you looking for anything specific today?”

“Engagement rings,” Chloe said as she returned the smile.

“Oh, how wonderful,” the woman said as she stood and waved them over to a counter. “Congratulations.”

“We’re not—”

“Thank you,” Chloe interrupted. “I asked her last night, kind of spur of the moment. I didn’t have a ring yet.”

“Well, then we best fix that. We have several options.”

If Chloe was aware Beca was staring at her she didn’t let on. Instead, she looked at the display and then said, “We’re actually looking for something non-traditional. No big diamonds or anything like that. Maybe something from of the area to commemorate it?”

“Of course, how thoughtful. We are known for our pearls, so perhaps that?” She guided them to another much longer counter with a plethora of options. “Take your time. I’ll be over there.”

“Ooh, what about that one?” Chloe said quietly next to her, pointing. “Its purply-black; that’s totally you.”

Beca followed Chloe’s finger through the glass to find the small iridescent jewel sitting on a silver band. She hadn’t expected Chloe suggesting a ring to have an effect on her, and yet… “Oh.”

“That’s what I thought. Okay, pick one out for me and then we’ll try them on together.” Chloe was still holding her hand.

“Yeah, okay,” she said and wished she had a cold glass of water. Maybe to drink, maybe to dump on herself. She focused on the dozens and dozens of rings laid out in front of them. She scanned them, disappointed with the options, all seeming tacky or cheap or just not right until— “That one.” She pointed. “It’s the color of your eyes.” It was pale blue in a brushed steel or silver setting and band and it was absolutely perfect.

“Oh, Beca…” Chloe said quietly, and then, “Okay, we’re ready to try some,” to get the woman’s attention again. “This one,” she said, pointing at what she’d chosen.

“And this,” Beca added, pointing at the other.

“Wonderful choices,” the woman said as she plucked them from their nests. She didn’t hand them to either of them; instead, she waited until Beca’s hand jutted out and grabbed the blue one.

“Okay, give me your hand,” she said nervously. Her own left hand was still gripped in Chloe’s right and it was a clammy mess, but Chloe didn’t seem bothered.

Chloe held up her left hand and smiled. “So romantic.”

“Sorry,” Beca said. “Um, let’s see how it looks, okay?” She was fully aware she was about to slip a ring onto Chloe’s ring finger for the purpose of appearing engaged and it was...a lot.

Chloe extended her fingers. They were trembling. “Okay.”

Beca cleared her throat. Chloe had no reason to be nervous. That was weird. She pushed aside her confusion and slipped the ring onto her finger until it stopped along with Beca’s heart. She’d imagined that moment so many times in so many ways over the years, and none of them involved doing it under the guise of a massive lie. As much as that tarnished it, she knew she’d never let go of how it felt to do that.

“That one is the color of the morning sea,” the woman said, jump starting it again. “Very fitting for remembering our island. Ah, and I see it matches your eyes, my dear.”

“That’s why she picked it,” Chloe said with a little twist of her hips. Her voice sounded tight and she turned her face away when Beca looked up in concern. But she was only turning to get the other ring. “Your turn.” She relaxed her hold on Beca’s hand and Beca reluctantly pulled it away.

She wiped her palm on her shorts and heard the woman snort a laugh, though Chloe only smiled at her and waited. “Okay,” she said as she held out her hand and straightened her fingers. It wasn’t exactly the way she’d imagined this happening, but Chloe was still slipping an engagement ring onto her finger...and then leaning in to kiss her cheek as soon as she’d done it.

“What do you think?” Chloe asked with a nod at their hands as she held hers up alongside Beca’s, still standing close.

“I think…” She had to swallow. “I think...yeah.”

“Same. Okay, we’ll take these. How’s the fit on yours, babe? Is it too big?”

“Uh, yeah,” Beca said as she wiggled the band with her thumb.

“Can you size these for us, please?” Chloe asked as she pulled Beca’s ring off for her and passed them back.

Beca was silent while she tried on the sizing bands save for saying, “This one,” when she found the right fit, and then they were left alone while their rings were adjusted in a back room.

“You okay?” Chloe said with a touch to her elbow. “You’re awfully quiet.”

“I’m fine,” she lied. “Thinking about seeing everyone later.” _Thinking about what it would be like if we were doing this for real._

“Hey, it’s going to be okay.” Chloe put her arm around her waist and hugged her from the side. “Today and tomorrow are going to be about love and friendship. Don’t think about the dinner yet. Okay?”

Beca nodded. That was just it; she was happy about today and tomorrow. It was what was coming after that she dreaded. Letting down her friends and family, sure, but more than that, it meant her and Chloe’s time together planning for a wedding and pretending to be a couple was about to end.

“All right, ladies,” the woman said, thankfully interrupting Beca’s thoughts. “Here you go, try them on, make sure they’re okay and then we’ll get you on your way.”

“Put it on again?” Chloe asked as she handed her ring to Beca and held out her hand.

“Yeah, sure,” Beca said cooly, happy to be able to do it again.

“You, too!” Chloe said before she could get the ring to the tip of her finger. “At the same time.”

“Okay, nerd,” Beca laughed as she held out her hand. “At the same time.”

It was difficult for a second to decide which to watch—hers going on or Chloe’s— but she settled on Chloe’s. She could watch herself slip a ring onto Chloe’s finger for eternity and it wouldn’t be enough.

* * *

Beca was in the shower for a proper one this time, starting to consider getting embarrassed again about her accidental morning exposure when Chloe stuck her head in to interrupt her.

She stuck her head right into the shower stall.

“Dude!” she screeched. She would have grabbed the shower curtain but there was no shower curtain. It was a glass box with the wide center strip frosted for privacy that Chloe really hadn’t needed to open in order to talk to or even see her. She spun, trying to figure out how to hide and settled on turning her back to her. At least that was just her ass and not...everything else. “Why are you like this?”

“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” Chloe said with what Beca figured was a shrug. “Bree texted me; they just landed so they’ll be up in half an hour. Probably less.”

Beca rolled her shoulders back to try to regain her confidence. While she was upset to be losing their privacy, she _was_ excited to get to play house for real with Chloe for the next two days. “Remind me again who’s coming today?”

“You, if you play your cards right.”

Beca spun at that, momentarily forgetting about her state of undress. She felt red-hot. “What?!”

“Well, we’re off to a good start,” Chloe said pointedly as she raked her eyes over Beca before winking at her and leaning back to close the door and return some of Beca’s privacy to her.

“Chloe, oh, my God!”

She listened to her laugh and watched her decide to sit down in a chair on the other side of the bathroom, apparently content to stay while Beca finished showering.

Which was unfortunate, considering Beca had planned to use her shower to tend to some...needs that had arisen. And Chloe had made those needs ten times worse. She groaned to herself and turned down the temperature of the water. She knew their villa was designed for romance and its distinct lack of doors on all the rooms except the tiny one with the toilet was meant to be disarming and everything but she could really use a locked door right about now. Maybe she’d have to lock herself in there later to take care of things.

“Everyone,” Chloe finally answered. “Our parents and the Bellas. Bree said they couldn’t all fit on the same flight from the big airport so I think the girls are coming over first so the grown-ups can walk around for a while before the tiny plane.”

“That thing seriously shouldn’t qualify as a plane. I can’t believe I have to get on it again when we leave.”

“I’ll protect you.”

Beca threw her a look through the clear upper portion of the glass and went back to rinse the shampoo from her hair which she’d been in the middle of when Chloe had burst in.

Chloe crossed her right knee over her left and seemed to settle into her seat. “This is sexy, you know.” She started to lean to the side as though to see under the lower edge of the frosted glass.

Beca closed her eyes and focused on the cool water pouring over her. “Glad you’re getting off on perving me.”

“Maybe later. We have to head out soon.”

Beca cranked the cold water on full blast.

* * *

No amount of mental preparation could have readied Beca for reuniting with the Bellas under the premise of marrying Chloe.

First, it was a reunion. It was squealing and crying and hugging and having not seen everyone in more than a year. That event in itself was an Everest.

But this Everest came with the rest of the Himalayas. The onslaught of shrieking about not knowing she and Chloe were even dating, and asking to see their rings, and then the tears about their imminent vows, and the hugs and more tears and by the time they got everyone away from the van and on their way toward the lodging, Beca had almost managed to convince _herself_ they’d been dating for months and didn’t feel the need to announce it to the world.

“Alright, this is my private hut,” Amy said when they strolled past the first house along the garden path. Beca still didn’t know where she’d been the past twenty-four hours—and she didn’t want to find out.

“No, Amy,” Aubrey said as she looked at a list on a clipboard in her hand. “You’re rooming with Emily.”

“What?!” the youngest Bella shrieked.

“Oh, no that won’t work. My genius intelligence cannot be put at risk by spending unnecessary time around that one. And I also don’t want to be responsible for corrupting her.”

“It’s fine,” Stacie said. “I’ll bunk with you, Amy. We can see who corrupts whom first.”

“Deal!” The two shook hands and peeled off, Amy chattering on about showing Stacie ‘where the magic happens.’

“I’m sorry, Aubrey,” Emily said with a sad voice as they started walking again. “But she’s so mean to me and I don’t know why.”

“Don’t apologize; I’m going to talk to her about her attitude. You and I can room together, okay?”

Emily skipped for a few paces. “Okay!”

“What are we doing?” Beca asked quietly where they brought up the rear of the group walking hand-in-hand. “We’re going to upset everyone so much.”

Chloe shushed her and squeezed her hand. “You look really nice.”

Beca wasn’t sure how she felt about Chloe’s avoidance but it was hard to not be made to feel giddy whenever Chloe complimented her. She wasn’t wearing anything fancy, just a pair of linen pants with an emerald-colored off-the-shoulder top and the same sandals she’d been wearing since they got off the plane. She felt frumpy next to Chloe’s floral sundress and wedges.

“Thanks.”

“I like that I can do this.” Chloe dropped her hand and she was about to be disappointed until Chloe’s fingernails tickled swirling patterns across her bare back, shoulder to shoulder and up and down her neck.

It made her gasp and shiver; it happened so quickly she didn’t have a chance to hide her reaction. She was still trying to figure out what to say when Chloe chuckled and laced their fingers together again and, thankfully, didn’t have to come up with a response at all because they were already at the next house saying goodbye (for now) to Jessica and Ashley.

She mostly kept quiet the rest of the journey down the line of cabins to drop off Cynthia Rose, Lilly, and Flo at theirs and onward until Emily was scurrying excitedly into the house she’d be sharing with Aubrey.

When Aubrey turned around and the three of them were alone, Beca suddenly felt like she was under a microscope. It had been easy so far to hold Chloe’s hand and act happy. But alone with Aubrey made her feel like she really had to sell it.

“I meant to tell you how beautiful you look,” she said as she turned to Chloe, who seemed a little surprised by the statement. “You look amazing in that dress.” She leaned in to quietly add, “I bet you look even better out of it.”

She’s not sure why she said it; it’s not like Aubrey could hear what she said. She could have—should have—whispered something innocuous. But she said what she was thinking and it had Chloe’s cheeks blazing pink when she pulled back to wink at her and made it glaringly obvious she’d said something salacious.

“Okay, keep the toner in your pants, Beca,” Aubrey said to interrupt their moment. “At least wait until I’m not around before you start undressing her with your eyes.”

“Sorry,” Beca said with a smirk. “Can’t help it.” She could tell Chloe was flustered; Chloe never got flustered and that made Beca...well, it made her _something._

“It’s fine. It’s cute. Gross, but cute.” Aubrey consulted her clipboard. “Your parents’ flight will land at 3:30, so you have time to go do...that.”

Beca snorted and she heard what she could only classify as a whimper from Chloe.

“I booked the spa for the women at 5:00. Dinner tonight is informal. 8:00 at the buffet.” She lowered her clipboard and smiled. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this; it’s in your itinerary already. It should have been in your villa when you arrived; was it?”

“Yeah, yes,” Beca said. She vaguely remembered seeing a stack of papers and tourism pamphlets on the kitchen counter when they arrived yesterday.

“Good. I’d love to invite you in; I haven’t seen you girls in so long. But you’re going to be inundated with people and you deserve time alone together this week.” She rushed up to them and hugged Chloe, then Beca. “I’ll see you at the spa; you can handle getting your parents settled?”

“I think we can; thanks Aubrey,” Beca said with a genuine smile.

Aubrey took a step back and seemed to really take them in as a couple and then she sighed. “I can’t believe you’re getting married. Oh, I’m so happy for you.” She started tearing up so Beca quickly shooed her away.

It wasn’t until Aubrey was gone that Beca realized Chloe hadn’t said a word since Beca had made the comment about her dress, and she was still flushed.

“Come on,” Beca said as she started to turn them around to head back toward their villa. “I could use a nap.”

* * *

She should really be used to seeing Chloe in all stages of undress by now. Honestly, she needed to get her bullshit under control.

But what was she supposed to do when Chloe shed her dress and crawled into bed with her to nap in nothing but her bra and underwear citing the humidity? Not look? Not think about...things?

She was only human.

* * *

The wave of guilt crashed over her again when she saw the van carrying their parents arrive. “Dude, we’re seriously going to hell for this. They’re probably going to disown us.”

Chloe squeezed her hand. “They’re not going to disown us for calling off our wedding before it’s too late. I know they’d rather we do that than go through with it and get divorced next year.”

Beca looked at her. “You think we’d only last a year?”

Chloe laughed and rolled her eyes a little. “Speaking hypothetically.”

_“Hypothetically_ , you think we’d get divorced after a year?” She really didn’t like that theory. “You’ve already put up with me this long,” she added to keep things light. “I’m pretty sure we could make it at least five.”

“You think?”

Beca nodded and stepped aside as the van pulled up alongside them. Before she lost her nerve, she said, “But if it was up to me, it would be for life. Hey, guys!” She rushed up to hug her dad before Chloe could respond. That was a messy and emotional hypothetical conversation to have.

“Whoa, hey!” her dad said with a laugh as he hugged her, barely out of the van. “You’re in a good mood. And now I understand why; hi, Chloe,” he said over her head.

“Hi, Dr. Mitchell.”

“Please. You’re about to be my daughter. Warren’s fine. ‘Dad’ is even fine!” Her dad was the one to end their hug first, mostly because Beca was starting to have a lot of second thoughts about what she’d said to Chloe. As long as she was hugging him, she wouldn’t have to acknowledge her declaration that she’d happily be married to Chloe for the rest of her life.

But he stepped away to hug Chloe and Beca was thankfully able to fill the void by hugging Sheila the moment she stepped out. “Hey, stranger.”

“Whoa, hi,” her stepmother said with a laugh. “Oh, look at you. Sweetie, you’re glowing.”

“Shut up, no I’m not,” Beca said as she pulled away and pushed her hair out of her face.

“You are. It looks good on you.”

Beca dismissed her comment and was about to start worrying about Chloe again but thankfully she was busy greeting her own parents who were climbing out of the van’s back seat. The freedom was short-lived, however, because soon she had to greet them, too, and go through the same motions and take the same compliments from Roger and Marie about looking happy and it all made Beca wonder what she looked like before this happened.

Was she always a grumpy troll or something? She smiles a little and it’s headline news?

“Come on. We’ll show you guys where you’re staying,” Beca said, desperate to not let a second of awkward silence fall. She’s not sure why she thought that was even a possibility, however. Chloe and her parents filled the conversation enough for everyone.

* * *

“Outta my way, bitches,” Amy said as she pushed past everyone. “I have first dibs on the hottest masseuse.”

“You’d think the brides-to-be would get first dibs on—oh. Wait, no, I didn’t—I’m sorry, are you guys even—oh, my gosh that’s not my business—”

“Legacy, chill,” Beca said to cut off Emily’s panicked ramble. “Amy can have the hot guy. I totally do not care.”

“Who said I don’t want the hot guy?” Chloe teased as she held the door for Beca.

Beca glanced at her and was relieved their marriage/divorce conversation from earlier had gone by the wayside. “You better not.”

“Why? Jealous?”

“Yes,” Beca said frankly, earning her a look of surprise.

“I’m not too happy about someone having their hands all over you either,” Chloe said with a one-shouldered shrug. “Because we’re getting married on Wednesday.”

Beca glanced at her sideways; that statement felt pretty genuine before Chloe pedaled it back with a joke. The concept of Chloe being jealous of someone touching her was foreign, to say the least.

She liked it.

“Don’t worry; I don’t want the hot guy,” she said airly while staff appeared and plucked members of the party for their individual private treatments. That’s when Beca saw her, the tall brunette with the striking features, and decided to play...well, not _dirty_ per se, but maybe a little dusty. “I want _her._ ” She stepped up and offered her hand in greeting before someone else could. “Hi, I’m Beca.”

“Oh, the bride! Welcome. I’m Sefina. And who is the other bride? You have a couples massage scheduled.”

“A couples—”

“That’s me!” Chloe said, reaching past Beca to shake the woman’s hand as well.

“Wonderful. Congratulations. Follow me?”

* * *

Beca sighed when she and Chloe were shown to a changing room and asked to strip down to nothing but the spa’s free robes. A room. A singular room to undress in together because why wouldn’t they do that as a couple?

She tried not to let her eyes wander from the point on the wall she chose to focus on as she saw Chloe start to undress.

It was made infinitely more difficult when Chloe said, “I thought you wanted to see me out of this dress?” in a tone that was not at all innocent.

Beca’s tongue felt heavy. “I did. I distinctly remember napping next to you in your underwear, like, two hours ago.”

“And?” Chloe teased.

There was a challenge to her tone and Beca’s brain and Beca’s hormones waged a quick battle and then she turned around knowing she was about to pull her own bra down her arms. It was going to be her weapon of choice. Chloe was looking at her expectantly in her bra and panty set, hands on her hips and hair flowing over her shoulders in waves. It was unfair. Truly.

“It was nice.”

“Nice?” Chloe scoffed and Beca could tell she was offended by the vanilla comment.

“I’d have liked it more if I’d taken it off you instead.” She stripped her bra off and tossed it into the cubby with her other clothes, grateful for the dim mood lighting in the room because she knew she was blushing. Hard. She waited a beat, long enough to know Chloe had 1) understood her statement and 2) noticed her body before plucking the robe off her hook to slip it on before shucking her underwear and tying the robe at the waist.

Chloe hadn’t moved an inch in the process.

“See you in there,” she tacked on with as casual a wave as she could manage and slipped through the door into the next room before having a totally silent breakdown about why the hell she did that?! She wasn’t even finished freaking out before she heard the door open again and Chloe was right behind her standing painfully close. They weren’t touching but she could feel her.

“Maybe next time you can,” Chloe finally said as she reached past Beca to open the door that led to the outdoor grotto and a pair of tables set up under a canopy of trees.

The only way Beca’s feet were moving was because Chloe was pushing her forward until they were making their way around the bend in the stream to get to the tables. Beca managed to have the wherewithal to claim the table by the hot brunette. If they were going to keep playing their...game or whatever was going on, she needed to try to keep the upper hand.

To what end, she really didn’t know.

“Welcome, ladies. Please, lie down. You can place your robes on the seats behind you.” She gestured and then turned to the small table beside her with small bottles and jars on it where she seemed to be mixing something by hand.

Beca glanced around and noticed Chloe doing the same, seeing nothing but large rocks. “Seats?” Beca whispered as she pointed at the boulders.

“I guess?” Chloe whispered back as she removed her robe and set it down before climbing up onto her table.

Beca hadn’t turned around until that event was finished and she was eternally grateful; she wouldn’t have been able to handle watching it. It was bad enough seeing Chloe lying naked on a massage table, already getting comfortable as Beca’s masseuse tucked a wide banana leaf around her hips.

A banana leaf. Not a towel. A whole damn banana leaf.

She almost laughed but it was so...right. So natural, given their environment. So she did the same, dropping her robe and climbing up to lie down. When she got settled and turned her head toward Chloe, she found her already facing her with a smile.

“What?” she said returning the smile slowly.

“This is nice.”

Beca lifted her hips a little to let the leaf tuck under her. “Yeah. It is.”

“Chloe, Niko and I usually perform the couples massages together, but I understand if you’d prefer a woman. Would you like me to get someone else before he joins us?”

Chloe winked at Beca and then glanced up at Sefina. “Niko will be fine. Man or woman, doesn’t matter to me.”

That was it. That was Beca’s final in to, well, out herself. Chloe’s tongue-in-cheek implication of her well-known bisexuality and all Beca had to say was—

“Me neither.” She winked back. As easy as pie she’d finally come out to Chloe.

If Chloe had been upright, Beca’s sure her jaw would have hit the ground. Instead, her eyes grew as big as saucers and she flipped her head to face the other direction, leaving Beca with nothing to look at but her flowing red curls and muscular arms and back.

It was a terrible sight. She soaked it in and was ready to close her eyes and settle into the ambiance when she heard Chloe clear her throat.

“I can’t believe I’m still learning new things about you after all these years.”

“Gotta keep you on your toes,” she said and watched Chloe shake a little in quiet laughter.

Chloe turned her head to face Beca again and she was blushing; that was three flusters in one day for Beca and she’d have high-fived herself if her arms weren’t folded beneath her. Just as Chloe started to say something, Niko arrived and introduced himself and their conversation was effectively ended.

Instead, she had to listen to the way Chloe sounded as Niko’s oil-covered hands moved over her body.

She chose not to watch that. She didn’t need to see it.

But she could sound her own appreciation for Sefina’s hands...so she did. Though more of it was rooted in responding to Chloe than the massage...if she was honest.

* * *

Chloe was quiet for the duration of their treatments (happy moans and sighs notwithstanding). She moaned her way through the massage and sighed her way through the facial but she was quiet as they dressed after their showers to rinse off. When Chloe was quiet, it meant she was thinking.

Beca was on her way to being paranoid when Chloe finally said as she sat down to put on her shoes, “Were you being serious?”

Beca was pretty certain she knew what Chloe was referring to, but she’d put her foot in her mouth enough times in her life to try to avoid assuming as much as she could. “About what?”

The sigh that followed sounded strained. “About—with the—” Chloe paused and Beca watched her take a slow breath and actually struggle to meet Beca’s eyes. “Are you...something other than straight?”

Beca shrugged as she tied the string on her pants. “Uh, yeah. I’m sorry I never told you. It never came up in a way that wasn’t, like, me making some big announcement, and eventually, it got too weird to bring it up. And I’m way too busy to date so I didn’t have to explain going on a date with a girl because there was no girl to go on a date with. It’s like when you’ve been talking to someone at a party for an hour and realize you don’t know their name but it’s way too late to ask them. You know?”

“Were you afraid to tell me?”

“No. We’ve known each other so long it felt weird to have to say something. I figured there’d be a chance eventually, and that was it. So, thanks.” She smiled at Chloe and grabbed her bracelet and engagement ring to slip them back on.

“Okay.” Chloe seemed to laugh but it was weak. “So, can I ask if you’re—”

“I’m bi like you.” _God,_ it felt good to finally say that out loud to Chloe.

Chloe nodded, still not looking at Beca for longer than a few seconds at a time. “I’m sorry if I’ve ever made you feel uncomfortable or like you couldn’t tell me.”

“Hey, no,” Beca said as she rushed to sit down on the bench next to Chloe. “You know I get all caught up in my head. I was going to tell you when I needed to tell you.” She could tell Chloe was about to cry and Chloe was absolutely not supposed to cry about this. “And I figured two days before our wedding would be a good time to do that.”

It worked in making Chloe smile a little and she took that as her cue to lean over to give her a hug. She smelled amazing, like hibiscus and coconut oil. And she felt amazing, especially when she wrapped her arms around Beca to hug her back.

“It really wasn’t because of me?”

“Not everything is about you,” Beca said before squeezing Chloe super hard to make her squeak and laugh.

Chloe wiped at her eyes when they parted and Beca tried to not hate herself for making her cry. “Will you come take a walk with me on the beach?”

Beca smiled at her and tried to not get lost in the way her eyes seemed to sparkle more than usual. “Yeah, of course.”

* * *

Chloe was quiet again as they strolled barefoot, shoes in their hands, along the sand at the water’s edge. The sun was setting and the breeze was light, and Beca was perfectly content to not carry on a conversation. Of course, she ached to know what Chloe was thinking about that had her all clammed up, but it was so sickeningly romantic to hold her hand walking on the beach at sunset that she didn’t mind all that much.

She wasn’t totally sure why they were even holding hands. She’d taken Chloe’s once they left the main path and after saying goodbye to the rest of the group, promising to see them again at dinner. She hadn’t been holding her hand then, when they were fake-engaged, but she was now, when they were their normal, unengaged, not-getting-married selves.

She swung their hands between them a little more than their pace called for and Chloe glanced at her sidelong, a soft smile on her lips, and Beca couldn’t recall a moment in which Chloe had ever looked more beautiful.

It felt a lot like falling in love with Chloe.

Again.

* * *

When they finally crawled into bed late that night, long after dinner and drinks, Beca couldn’t help but notice the ocean of space Chloe put between them, her back to Beca.

She never did that. Never once did Chloe give her space (unless Beca asked for it). But Beca had come out and now Chloe was distant. Literally. She really hoped that hadn’t freaked her out in some way.

Beca stared at the ceiling, listening to the ocean and the birds and Chloe’s steady breathing that told her she was still awake until she couldn’t bear it anymore.

She turned onto her side and slid across the expanse until she had her arm over Chloe’s waist. She tugged her back a little to silently call her out on her abnormal behavior and leaned over to kiss the curve of her jaw.

She felt Chloe’s hand come to rest over her forearm, thumb brushing back and forth slowly, and only then Beca was able to sleep.

* * *

Beca couldn’t believe her eyes when she woke up in the morning.

Chloe was still asleep. Effervescent morning person Chloe was asleep and night owl Beca was awake. And the sun was up.

And she looked really fucking adorable, hair a mess and jaw slack and lips smushed into a pout as she slept hard. Beca appreciated it for a few extra, greedy seconds before slipping out of bed and into the bathroom to take a shower.

She stepped in and cranked up the heat and steam and hoped Chloe would stay asleep long enough that she could finally release some of the tension the past few days had built up.

It was almost becoming unbearable.

She tried to be quick about it, but it was difficult, being forced to stand. For a quick second, she considered kneeling, but that would put her entire self on display (except her face, which made it seem even lewder). She had to make do doing it upright leaning against the tiled wall of the shower, biting her lip to keep quiet as she tried to be as efficient as possible.

She was still coming down from her release—blissful, but not nearly enough—when she thought she saw movement in the open doorway. Her focus wasn’t quite back yet but when she blinked again, it was empty and she could still see Chloe’s legs in bed in the next room, golden in the morning sun and white sheets. The angle cut her off at mid-thigh, but she was there.

Breathing a sigh of relief she reached for her loofah to scrub herself down but found herself unable not to look again. Maybe it was her mind still warm with lust but there was something fascinating about seeing Chloe now. Maybe because she’d been on her mind as she came, or because she could so clearly remember what she looked like covered in massage oil before she put her robe on.

Her feet moved and Beca jumped, feeling like she got caught staring and went back to washing herself. But she had to look again because she’s that messed up.

Chloe’s feet were still moving.

They were moving a lot. Slowly, but a lot. Like, sliding up and down the bed and apart and together and—

“Shit,” Beca breathed, dropping her loofah and forgetting to pick it up.

Chloe was touching herself.

Beca spun away and covered her eyes, a dramatic reaction, she knew, given Chloe had no idea Beca could see her or knew what she was doing.

But like... _holy shit._

She turned back around, slowly and as casually as she could to not appear to be turning on purpose lest Chloe somehow see her.

But when she was facing the door again, Chloe was still in bed, and definitely still touching herself.

Whatever relief Beca had gained moments ago was erased from history. In all the years they’d lived together, Beca had definitely _heard_ Chloe. It was inevitable living above her for three years in the Bellas house while Chloe enjoyed sampling all that Barden’s students had to offer. Even in their tiny apartment, Beca knew she’d interrupted Chloe’s alone time once or twice when she came home unexpectedly.

But she’d never _seen_ it.

She inched her way to the left, fully aware that what she was doing was _completely and totally inappropriate_ as she tried to improve the angle and bring more of Chloe into view.

It gained her an inch or two, enough that Beca could see Chloe’s left hand gripping her thigh as her body shifted again and again and that was enough to send Beca’s own hand right back between her thighs.

She was so going to hell for this. But what else was new?

It felt amazing. And she was _so_ wet now, not like the pitiful excuse her body had given her thanks to her haste. She wanted to throw open the shower door and run into the bedroom and climb on top of Chloe and kiss her while her hand took the place of Chloe’s and Chloe’s took the place of her own.

Instead, she stayed put, starting to lean a little on the door. She was already so close and she knew this was going to be a release that would actually satisfy her for a while. Chloe seemed to be close, too, if the speed her hips were moving was any indication. Beca strained her ears, desperate to hear a sound, any sound, over the constant rush of water behind her.

She heard herself moan instead and clenched her jaw.

_God,_ it felt so fucking good.

Her eyes drifted for a second, just one short second. They flitted up and caught the reflection of Chloe’s movement in the window on the far side of the room.

It was a much wider angle.

Beca could see everything.

It was faint, of course. Almost invisible in the bright morning sun, but it was enough that she could see where Chloe’s hand went when it wasn’t gripping her thigh: under her shirt to her breast.

She couldn’t really make out any facial features; they were lost to the sun, but that didn’t matter.

She could see where Chloe’s right hand disappeared between her legs down the front of her underwear. And how her entire body rolled as her hips lifted again and again.

She was starting to lose it and as soon as she saw Chloe’s increasingly frantic movements freeze, Beca collapsed in on herself.

If she had been paying a little more attention, she would have remembered that the shower door was magnetic and designed to open without much pressure. But, she was definitely not paying attention and let herself fall against it as if it was a wall and before she could process what was happening, she was face down on the bathroom floor with the wind knocked out of her and an aching elbow.

“Oh, my God, Beca, are you okay?!” she heard from the bedroom. _No, no, no, no_ , Chloe was running toward her and Beca was still—

At least she got her hand away from herself in time but she couldn’t stop the groan when Chloe’s hands landed on her back.

She could only hope it sounded like she was in agony and not ecstasy because she was _definitely_ coming with Chloe kneeling on the floor _right next to her touching her while she’s naked_. And Chloe was so close to her in nothing but underwear and a tank and...yeah Chloe had definitely been—

She squeezed her eyes closed. “Fine,” she choked out as she tried to get her limbs to respond but they were all still throbbing and not because she’d smacked her funny bone on the tile floor.

“What happened?” Chloe was trying to help her up and honestly, Beca needed her to leave for like two minutes so she could figure out how to un-humiliate herself. “Did you slip?”

Beca nodded from where she’d managed to get up to: her hands and knees. Slipped. Yeah, she slipped.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” She was still touching Beca and Beca really, really needed her to stop touching her while they were both basically naked.

She finally managed to open her eyes and lift her head and she really, really didn’t need to see how flushed Chloe’s face was and how dark her eyes were and how hard her nipples were under her thin tank top. It was all she could do to not pitch herself forward and pin Chloe to the floor.

_Oh, my God, what is wrong with you?!_

“Yeah,” she said, getting a breath. “Got the wind knocked out of me.” There, that was good. That sounded more normal and less orgasm-y. She started getting back on her feet and tried to ignore the fact that she was totally naked while Chloe helped her up. Everything on display. No way to be modest.

“Are you positive? Because you could have internal bleeding if you broke a rib—”

“I don’t have internal bleeding,” she said with a laugh and suddenly she felt less humiliated and a little more normal again. “I was almost finished.” _Well…_ “I’ll be out in five and it’s all yours. Okay?” She was finally back on her feet and able to, like, _walk_ so she took a step back into the shower and pulled the door closed. She turned so she could roll her eyes and generally berate herself without Chloe seeing.

An unfortunate side effect of closing her eyes, she learned, was remembering what she’d seen and feeling the shame of what she’d done because of it.

“Or I could join you.”

Beca grimaced and smacked her fist against her thigh. That wasn’t even one ounce of fair to do to her right now.

“Funny,” she said before putting her face under the spray.

* * *

Beca made sure to give the bathroom door (or, lack thereof) a wide berth while Chloe showered. It was for her own sanity and to try to give Chloe as much privacy as she might need. Beca didn’t know if she’d been able to, well, _finish_ thanks to Beca’s minor catastrophe and if she hadn’t, she didn’t want to get in the way of that. Again. Because she got it. She totally got it.

At least she felt like she could breathe again and if Chloe needed that, too, she wanted her to have it. Tonight was going to be stressful enough getting through the wedding rehearsal only to break it to everyone at dinner that they’d decided not to get married.

She also wanted Chloe to have it because _oh, my God_ she wanted Chloe to be in, like, a constant state of—

“Hey, still feeling okay?”

Beca looked up from her spot on a chaise in the sea-facing lounge to see Chloe in a robe and her hair wrapped in a towel, concern marring her perfect face.

“Elbow’s a little sore,” she admitted as she gave it a few experimental bends. “But otherwise good.”

“I bet there’s some Ibuprofen in here somewhere. I’ll look. If there isn’t any, we’ll go up to the clubhouse and buy some.”

“Thanks,” she said as Chloe turned to leave and she heard the sounds of cabinets opening and closing and Chloe’s tuts of disappointment each time. She smiled to herself; despite the massive guilt trip she was on because of, well, _everything_ she was absurdly happy.

She pulled her bathrobe tighter around herself and laid back to take in the late morning sun.

* * *

**_To be continued..._ **


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To fasten your seat belt, insert the flat metal end into the buckle until it clicks. Tighten the belt by pulling on the loose end of the strap. To release your seat belt, lift the tab on the buckle. We suggest that you keep your seat belt fastened throughout the journey as we may experience turbulence. The good kind. Like on a roller coaster.

* * *

“That’s what you’re wearing to the rehearsal?”

Beca looked down at her dress, a champagne-colored V-neck mini-dress with silver and gold beading and flowy sleeves that stopped above her elbows she’d paired with strappy silver sandals, and she frowned. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing!” Chloe said quickly as she flipped her hair off her shoulder so she could put on her other hoop earring. “It’s gorgeous. I didn’t mean it in a bad way.” Then she winked. “Maybe in a jealous way though; people won’t be able to take their eyes off you.” She turned around. “Zip me up?”

Beca was quick about the zipping and moved her hand to play nervously with her hair only to remember she’d tied most of it back into a low, purposely messy ponytail. She’d given up trying to conquer the humidity and was starting to embrace the underlying natural curl of her hair. “Wait, jealous of who?”

Chloe turned back and only smiled wider.

“Shut up,” she huffed in reply and then gestured emphatically at her friend. “I mean, look at you.”

“What about me?” Chloe said with another smile, hand on the counter to lean against it as she struck a deliberate and dramatic pose with plenty of batting eyelashes.

“You’re...” And if Chloe was going to pose, Beca was going to look. And look she did at the layers of cream-colored lace that hugged every inch and curve of Chloe’s body from the sweetheart neckline to the middle of her thighs (Beca could still remember how the left one looked clutched between Chloe’s fingers) and the way she’d swept her hair up on her left side with a clip to show off the length of her neck that Beca so desperately wanted to kiss. “...stunning.”

Her response seemed to startle Chloe, the playful pose breaking until she was blinking at Beca for a few seconds before coming back to herself with a bright smile. “Thank you.” She reached for Beca’s hand and Beca gave it willingly.

They made their way out and down a path through the rainforest toward the wedding grounds. She knew they both saw a few of the girls not too far ahead, but it was nice that neither of them called out to get their attention.

Beca liked living in their little bubble.

“So, is it new?”

“Is what new?”

“Your dress,” Chloe replied.

“Oh. Yeah, I didn’t really have anything for a wedding rehearsal, so…” She knew full well she didn’t have to buy a dress for the rehearsal when she bought it. Just like she knew neither of them needed to buy a dress for a wedding ceremony that was never going to happen.

And yet she’d done both of those things.

“What about yours? I feel like I’d remember seeing you wear _that_.” She smiled at Chloe when she said it and gave her hand a squeeze.

Chloe giggled and nodded. “Yeah, it’s new.”

* * *

“Oh, wow,” Beca said when they rounded the final bend. She should have been more mentally prepared for this specific event, not solely what was coming after it. Because coming around that curve and seeing the dense rainforest give way to a clearing lined with rows of benches hewn from trees and an arch fashioned from bamboo adorned with flowers and vines as though the forest was reclaiming it, and all their friends and parents milling around and Aubrey and a minister chatting in the middle of it…

“Are you crying?”

“What? No,” Beca said hurriedly as she turned her eyes up to the sky and away from Chloe’s inquiry.

“Hey.” Chloe’s voice was quiet and she felt a hand touch her cheek to bring her face back down and around until she was looking at Chloe. She seemed as moved as Beca felt. “It’s going to be okay. Okay? I love you.”

That wasn’t what Beca needed right now. She didn’t need gentility and Chloe telling her she loved her in that voice. It only made the tears well up more quickly and she closed her eyes and nodded, trying to agree that it was going to be fine.

What she really felt like was that she was agreeing to put her heart through an extremely cruel prank.

Talk about a masochist.

“There they are!” Aubrey called out and Beca felt Chloe’s thumbs brushing away the few tears she’d let escape.

“Shit, is my mascara running?” she said with a sniffle as she tried quickly to pull herself together.

Chloe shook her head. “Still perfect. But you should have thought to wear waterproof like I did.”

Beca opened her eyes to see Chloe still looking at her, eyes watery but not spilling, and for one full second, she was sure Chloe was going to kiss her.

“Oh, don’t you two look beautiful,” Aubrey’s voice was louder now and Chloe turned from her, sucking the air out of Beca’s lungs.

“Thank you,” Chloe said as she wrapped Aubrey up in a hug. “For everything.”

Beca knew what that hug really was; it was Chloe apologizing for what would come next.

“Beca,” Aubrey said over Chloe’s shoulder, “you clean up nicely.”

“You clean up nicely,” Beca mocked before deciding to act like as much of an adult as she could. “Sorry. I meant thank you. So, we’re at your rehearsal. Are we here to learn Ace of Base’s latest hit?”

Her wisecrack was to help herself relax more than anything, but Chloe and Aubrey laughed, too.

“No, this is _your_ rehearsal. Nothing major. We’re here so everyone knows where to stand and when to walk.” Aubrey turned to stand between them and she started pointing. Whether or not her use of their two-finger flight attendant gesture was on purpose, it still made Beca smile. “So. Beca, you’ll be on the left and Chloe will be on the right.”

“Why?” Chloe asked. “Just curious.”

“Because every time I see you, Beca’s always holding your left hand. Is that okay?”

Chloe glanced at Beca behind Aubrey’s back and Beca nodded, finding it odd that she’d never noticed that habit herself. “That’s fine.”

“Okay. So, Beca, your parents will be seated in the front row on the right side—”

“You just said I’m on the left side.”

“You are. Your parents will be on the right side so they can see your face instead of the back of your head.”

“Oh.”

“So mine will be on the left side,” Chloe surmised.

“Right. And am I correct to assume your fathers will be walking each of you down the aisle? Or did you have something different in mind?”

“Yes.”

Beca paled. “Shit.”

“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Chloe asked, taking a step back so she could see around Aubrey.

“I didn’t ask my dad to give me away,” she whispered harshly as though Aubrey couldn’t hear her from a foot away. “Did you ask yours?”

“Of course I did,” Chloe whispered back.

“Shit,” she whispered again. “Um, hey, Aubrey, I need—”

“Go ahead,” Aubrey said with a quiet laugh as she waved toward Beca’s parents sitting on a bench on the right side of the aisle.

“Thanks. Sorry. Shit, shit, shit,” she repeated to herself as she hurried down the aisle until she was arriving with an awkward two-handed wave in front of her father and Sheila. “Heeey, guys!”

“Beca! Don’t you look lovely!” her dad said as he stood and hugged her.

And she let him. She needed all the comfort and support she could get today. When he pulled away she noticed what he was wearing and frowned. His shirt might have been something Quagmire from “Family Guy” would wear and his...well, she supposed his shorts were fine given they were on an island. And his flip-flops were...passable. “Really, dad? A Hawaiian shirt?”

“I think it brings out my eyes,” he said as he popped its collar a little. “Tell her, Sheila.”

“He thinks it brings out his eyes,” Sheila dead-panned. She wasn’t so bad, Beca was learning after all these years. “Your dress, however, is gorgeous.”

“Thank you,” she said, and then remembered why she’d come over in the first place. “Um, Dad, I need to ask you something.”

“Of course, Beca. What is it?”

God, she was such an asshole. What they were doing was going to hurt every single person she cared about.

“Will you—will you walk me down the aisle?” She couldn’t believe she was asking her dad that question. “Tomorrow? Well, today. And tomorrow.” And she couldn’t believe she had to experience the look of pure joy and pride on his face before he hugged her again knowing it was all for naught.

“Of course I will!”

“Okay, cool. So, I guess...come with me because we have to practice...walking.” She felt his hand on her shoulder and hated herself a little bit more with each step. “Got him,” she announced through her guilt when they’d returned to where Aubrey and Chloe were waiting.

“Did she forget to ask you?” Chloe said to her father with a wink to Beca.

He laughed. “I knew she’d get around to it eventually. Are you surprised?”

“Not one bit.” She smiled at Beca again and then shouted, “Daddy! I need you!”

Beca watched Chloe’s father turn in surprise and make his way hurriedly to their small group. She always did like Roger. He was full of dad jokes, but ones that were _actually_ funny, unlike her own father’s.

“Bellas! We need you, too!” Aubrey called out.

Beca had had many internal reservations about Aubrey assigning herself the role of Wedding Planner; Beca had envisioned Bridezilla-levels of control and militant precision, but she’d been remarkably—and thankfully—flexible and low-key about it all. She wielded a clipboard, but not a whistle like Beca expected, and she didn’t bark orders or pile group activities onto them.

It was actually...really nice.

She did assume her role as a natural leader as soon as the rest of the girls joined them, standing in front of the formed semi-circle to run through what she’d told Beca and Chloe about who would be sitting where once down the aisle.

She was about to say something else when she stopped and leaned over to whisper to Beca, “Did you ask anyone to be _your_ Maid of Honor?”

_Shit. Again._ She wasn’t really getting married; she hadn't thought to go through all the perfunctory motions! Her face must have answered the question.

“It’s okay if you didn’t. I just need to know before I pair off the girls.”

“No, I didn’t,” she admitted, feeling like a lousy bride. “Could you do it for both of us?”

She hadn’t expected it to be a big deal; Aubrey was already standing up for Chloe so what was the big deal about being there for both of them? But Beca was, of course, wrong in her assumption and Aubrey was instantly in tears which she tried to hide as she nodded and rejoined her previous conversation to pair off the girls by height and line them up: Flo and Cynthia Rose, Lilly and Amy, Jessica and Ashley, and Emily and Stacie. Then herself, and Beca and Chloe and their fathers at the rear of the line, quickly deciding amongst themselves the two of them would enter together.

“Okay everyone, we’re just walking. I don’t want any of that step-together-step business. It’s not 1987 and the music is going to be a traditional Fijian choir so no ‘sick beats.’ We’ve all seen how this works. Split off once you pass the front row, Flo and Cynthia Rose, you’re going to have to go wider than you think to let everyone fill in toward the center. I’ll stand on Chloe’s side. Warren and Roger, you will part ways with your daughters at the first row and take your seats. Chloe and Beca will take the last few steps together, and that’s it.”

“And that’s it,” Beca heard Chloe murmur next to her and she glanced over. She seemed pensive, her hold on her father’s arm visibly tight.

“Move out!” Aubrey called toward the front of the line.

Beca watched their friends walk down the aisle in practice for the wedding she would never get to have. She watched until Chloe and she and their fathers were the only ones left waiting.

She’d have forgotten to walk if her dad’s departure hadn’t pulled her along with him. She was pretty sure he was talking to her but her ears were ringing and she tightened her hold on his arm in case she decided to faint. Then he was hugging her and leaving her and she felt Chloe’s hand take hers to lead her the last few steps until they were at the center of their friends, facing a minister neither of them had met.

“Hello, friends,” the man said with a warm smile. He was short, barely Beca’s height, and stout, and she estimated probably in his fifties. “My name is Seru. May I ask which of you is Chloe and which is Beca?”

“I’m Chloe,” she said with a little wave and Beca felt a squeeze on her hand.

“Beca,” she said after clearing her throat.

“Wonderful. We won’t be going through the full ceremony today, because we don’t want to spoil tomorrow’s fun,” he said with a wink. “But once you’ve joined hands here, I will greet everyone and read a passage Miss Posen has asked me to recite. Then we will recite your vows; would you like to follow the traditional statements or have you written your own?”

“Traditional,” Beca answered. She wondered what Aubrey had asked him to read.

“We wrote our own,” Chloe said right over her.

Beca looked at her in shock; she didn’t want to have to write fake vows for her fake wedding and now their mismatched answers looked bad.

“Someone’s going to be cramming tonight,” she heard Amy mutter behind her followed by a few quiet chuckles.

She had instant anxiety over it—that is, until she remembered there wouldn’t be a wedding and she didn’t actually have to write anything.

“Right, I forgot,” she said with an eye roll and a forced chuckle. “You all know how I am. I need to do my homework tonight I guess.”

“That’s perfectly okay,” Seru said with a laugh. “I will have you exchange rings with your vows, invite you to share your first kiss as a married couple, and the ceremony will conclude. Would you prefer Mrs. and Mrs. Beale? Or Mitchell? Or something else, perhaps?”

“Mitchell-Beale,” Chloe answered so quickly Beca had barely processed his question.

It’s what Beca would have chosen, too; she’d thought about it a lot in her imaginary notebook covered in their initials in hearts and all the times she mentally practiced her signature in different variations of her possible married name.

He jotted something down in the book he was holding and nodded. “That’s everything. Do you have any questions?”

The mention of a kiss reminded Beca that Chloe had said people were going to expect them to kiss. It had filled her with trepidation and dread and a fair dose of excitement.

But their friends hadn’t harassed them about it. And, Beca supposed, it _was_ kind of weird if you thought about it. Who bugs their dating friends to kiss in front of them? That’s just...weird. No one had said anything and no one had questioned their legitimacy as a couple. They hadn’t had to kiss to keep up their ruse.

Part of Beca wished they’d had to, though.

She’s been waiting and wanting to kiss Chloe for roughly six years.

But it was probably for the best; all of this was hard enough on her already fragile emotions. Having to kiss...she’s not sure if she’d recover from the fallout.

“Seems easy enough,” Chloe said as she swung Beca’s hand a little. “What about you?”

“Uh no. I’m good. I get it.”

“Great! I’ll let you rehearse your exit and meet you in the back so we can take care of signing your wedding license.”

“Wedding license?” Beca said, looking at Chloe in alarm.

“Of course, dear,” Seru replied. “It’s required for all ceremonies performed in Fiji.”

“Oh, we took care of that in New York,” Chloe lied with a placating wave of her hand.

“Unfortunately, it is required to obtain one here as well. We cannot perform the ceremony without it.”

“You were supposed to go to town to pick one up yesterday,” Aubrey hissed. “It was on your itinerary. They closed at 4:00 and it needs to be issued at least one day before the wedding.”

This was...this was absurd. She was starting to panic over not having a marriage license for her fake wedding that was going to be called off in the next few hours.

“Not to worry,” their officiant said with another warm smile. “Exceptions can be made. And we’re allowed to issue them here with a little extra paperwork that we’re happy to take care of for you. We’ll take a walk to my office.”

“Great, thanks!” Chloe said and Beca could only look at her again and try to convey the level of alarm she was feeling. But all Chloe did was smile at her and squeeze her hand again.

“Okay, you two will depart first,” Aubrey said, apparently forgiving their legal misstep though Beca had a hunch she’d bring it up again. “Then the rest of us will follow in the reverse order we entered.”

At least that was easy. Chloe bumped their shoulders a couple times as they walked up the aisle. She was probably trying to convey that it was going to be fine, but all it did was make Beca want to scream that _none of this was fine._

As soon as the group was back at the top of the aisle they broke out into excited, happy chatter. Everyone, that is, except Beca who kept her mouth shut so she didn’t scream.

Seru followed a few paces behind and touched her elbow to remind her of his presence and their little errand. “If you’d come with me? And you’ll need two witnesses to sign with you.”

_Oh, my God._ They were going to have to call this off in the next five minutes, not the next few hours.

“Bree!” Chloe said with a wave and a grabbing of her hand to pull her into a hug, though her other hand stayed locked on Beca’s. “Be our witness? Beca, who else?”

Beca stared at her for a minute willing and waiting for Chloe to read her mind that they need to end this literally right now, to no avail. “Uh, Ames?”

“Yaaaas!” their loud roommate said with a victorious pump of her fist. “Call me Katy because you can all _witness_ my greatness.”

Beca frowned at her and chose to ignore her ridiculousness. How she was Beca’s best friend, Beca really didn’t know.

“Okay, follow me.”

Seru walked in a slow shuffle and as she and Chloe followed him, it felt a lot like some kind of a death march. At least the initial announcement of the bad news would be to their best friends. It would be a good barometer for how badly it would go when they told the others.

Once in his nearby office, Seru pulled a document from a filing cabinet and placed it on the desk in front of Beca and Chloe where he’d invited them to sit and handed them a pen with a good deal of pageantry.

They were literally staring at a marriage license and Chloe was holding a pen and Aubrey was taking photos on her phone and Amy was humming “Here Comes the Bride” but kept confusing it with “Pomp & Circumstance.”

“Uh, Chloe…?” she said and desperately hoped Chloe would do something, anything to help her figure out what to do. She couldn’t just blurt out that this had all been a joke. They hadn’t even worked out what they were going to tell everyone later as they’d planned to. She looked to her right to see Chloe holding the pen and staring at the paper until Chloe turned to look at Beca.

She was crying.

There were tears running down her cheeks as she smiled at Beca and reached to hold her hand because they’d let one another go when they sat down.

And then she leaned forward and filled in her information on the form.

Beca felt light-headed and confused and hot and cold and then Chloe was holding out the pen to offer it to her with a nod.

She stared at her again, almost smiling in shock, but Chloe just raised her eyebrows and wiggled the pen. It felt like a challenge or a question, but Beca didn’t know what that question was.

“Your turn,” she finally said and Beca took the pen.

Beca took the pen and leaned forward to put her name and birthdate and address and her parents’ names below all of Chloe’s.

And then she signed it.

“We just need your witnesses to sign and you’ll be all set.”

“Uh, here. Amy,” Beca said thickly as she handed her the pen to watch her scribble her name on a blank line before passing it to Aubrey who did so with much more care.

Then she watched Seru sign it. And stamp it. And emboss it and make a copy of it and fold it and put it in an envelope and offer it back to them with his congratulations.

It was Chloe who finally reached out to accept it.

“So that’s...that was legal,” Beca said, feeling like every nerve in her body was ready to break down.

Seru smiled widely from the other side of his desk. “Yes, my dear. Legal and will be recognized in the United States as it is here.”

She turned to look at Chloe again but she was too busy staring at the envelope in her hands to notice.

“Oh, you’re both so happy,” Aubrey said as she paid some kind of a fee to Seru. “I can tell you didn’t know how this would feel. I’m so happy for you.”

“Yeah, what blondie said,” Amy said with a loud sniff.

“Chloe?” she tried again and Chloe finally turned to look at her for a second before darting forward to hug Beca as hard as she could.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered so quietly Beca knew no one else would hear. “I will fix this. I promise.” Then she kissed Beca’s cheek and said, “I love you so much,” at a normal volume.

All Beca could do was nod and hug her back and say, “I love you, too.”

Because she did. She loved Chloe with every fiber of her being.

And now she was married to her. She was married to her and she couldn’t even enjoy it.

“Can we eat now?”

“Yes, Amy, we can eat now,” Aubrey said with a sigh.

* * *

All Beca wanted was five minutes alone with Chloe. Or maybe ten to be able to scream and cry and ask what the _hell_ they just did. Beca had no idea how to undo a marriage. Divorce? Did they have to get divorced? She didn’t want to be divorced at twenty-four. Or did they get an annulment? When was it an annulment and when was it a divorce?

But she didn’t get ten minutes alone with her. She didn’t even get five, because Aubrey and Amy walked with them to the Matakau restaurant where she knew they had a private room reserved. She had read _that_ in their itinerary. She had definitely missed the part about the license, however.

Everyone else had arrived before them thanks to their detour to take care of a little legality and cheered when they entered.

It made Beca want to cry.

Instead, she smiled and let Chloe lead her by the hand through the room to what were clearly meant to be their seats, two empty chairs at a table for six where their parents also sat. So that’s where she sat, growing increasingly numb to the buzz around her. She was vaguely aware that someone was pouring her a glass of wine. She went through the motions of eating the salad someone put in front of her. She smiled when it sounded like someone was talking to her.

The ringing in her head was starting to become unbearable when Chloe leaned over and touched her shoulder to get her to move closer.

“I’m going to bring up your job and how your boss treats you.”

Beca had to think for a minute to catch up. “What?”

“I’m going to say your boss treats you badly and that I don’t want you to work there anymore. Start an argument with me about it and I’ll ask you to step outside to talk. Then we’ll come back and explain that it’s been an ongoing point of stress for us and it’s clear we’re never going to get past it and I can’t get in the way of your career.”

“Oh.” She took a deep breath and nodded. “Right, that’s good.” That’s all it was going to be. They were going to have the spat that broke the camel’s back and it would all be over. Tomorrow they would be on their way to their extended vacation for their non-refundable would-be honeymoon on a neighboring island where they wouldn’t bump into anyone they knew and she could wallow in self-pity as much as she wanted.

They could go back to normal.

Chloe patted her knee and sat back, though she left her hand to rest on Beca’s knee.

Now all she had to do was wait for it all to end.

* * *

“Raise your hand if you were surprised to find out these two were an item,” Chloe’s father was saying as he stood addressing their small party, glass in hand. It was the fourth speech they’d had to sit through, kicked off by her own father and followed by Amy (who mostly cracked jokes about having to share an apartment with them and how much sex they had which was as embarrassing as it was funny—and false) and Aubrey (who was barely understandable due to her blubbering but there was a lot in there about sisterhood and family).

Everyone laughed but no one raised their hand.

“Beca.”

She looked up at Roger Beale and smiled, feeling Chloe’s fingers tracing back and forth at the base of her neck where her hand had come up to rest on the back of Beca’s chair.

“I’ve never seen my little girl so happy around anyone. I’ll be proud to call you my daughter. To you both,” he finished with a raise of his glass that everyone followed with a chorus of “Cheers!”

When things died down again, it was Chloe who took up her glass and stood and said, “Okay, my turn,” while everyone clapped and whistled.

_This was it. This was going to be it._

“I want to thank you all for joining us here. I know it wasn’t easy, but it really means the world to us that you came.” She glanced down at Beca so she smiled and nodded in agreement. “You didn’t have to, but you all pitched in to make this a really, really special time for Beca and me.”

“That’s what pitches do,” Amy shouted, her hand to her mouth like it was a megaphone. “We pitch in!”

Her joke was received with groans by everyone except Beca’s dad, who guffawed. Because of course he would.

“We’ve been through a lot together,” she continued, smiling down at Beca. “I know moving to New York wasn’t easy for you.” _Here it comes._ “It wasn’t where I thought I’d end up either. But being with you makes up for anything I thought I was missing because you’re everything I need. I love you, Beca.” She lifted her glass. “To you.”

Beca watched her drink and heard everyone coo at the sweetness.

Chloe sat down. “It’s bad luck not to drink after a toast. Especially one for you,” Chloe said as she set down her glass and nodded at Beca’s as though she hadn’t skipped over one very important plot point of their evening.

She reached for her glass slowly, still staring at Chloe. “What about—”

“Beca, oh, my gosh!”

Beca barely had time to lift her arm and glass of wine out of the way before Emily basically fell into her lap to hug her.

“I can’t believe you’re marrying Chloe! It’s like a fairytale!” She was borderline wailing.

She caught her around the waist with her free arm to keep her from tipping backward. “Uh, Legacy, how much have you had to drink?”

“Maybe a little,” she stage-whispered before giggling. “Oh, it’s so romantic! You sang and Chloe found you and it’s like you were a siren singing her song and you fell in love and now here we are!” She hugged Beca again and she felt her starting to lean forward to stand up.

“That’s not what happened,” she said as she gave Emily a nudge.

“Well, you _were_ singing my song,” Chloe teased from beside her. “And I did fall in love with you.”

Beca almost did a spit take as she finally took her toasted sip.

She didn’t have a chance to say anything about it because Emily had moved on to fawn similarly over Chloe and her dad was asking her to dance and they were pulled away from each other.

Her dad was asking her to dance?

She looked up at his proud smiling face and proffered hand and...she guessed she could dance with her father at her very real rehearsal dinner for her very fake wedding.

She let him help her to her feet and lead her to an open area in the room and into a slow dance to the tropical music being piped in.

“Don’t worry; I’m not going to say anything sappy. I have a feeling you’ve had your fill of that by now.”

She laughed to herself, still trying to step over what Chloe had said to her, and nodded. “Yeah, that quota’s been filled.”

“But I do have to say, Beca: your mother would be so happy. I wish she could be here to see this.”

That...that wasn’t fair. She’d made it this long without thinking about her mother who would have been the very first to RSVP if she hadn’t...if she hadn’t. The tears snuck up on her, making her choke for a second before she hid her face against her dad’s chest, trying to not let him see.

“You’ve been pretty quiet tonight,” he said after a moment, thankfully ignoring her crying if he noticed it. “Are you nervous about tomorrow?”

Understatement of the century. Nervous? In a constant state of low to moderate panic. Wondering how the fuck she ended up in this position. Wishing she wasn’t a dirtbag who thought up a way to scam people out of gifts. A general emotional trainwreck.

“Different question,” he said before she could answer. “Does Chloe make you happy?”

“Yeah,” she said with a nod. That was an easy question to answer.

“Then you don’t have anything to be nervous about,” he said with a smile before lifting his arm to twirl her like he used to do when she was a little girl.

It gave her a full view of the room again and she saw Chloe and Roger swaying, too, a few feet away. Chloe looked over just then and smiled at her.

So she smiled back.

* * *

“May I cut in?”

Beca looked to her left, surprised for some reason to see Chloe smiling up at her father.

“Of course, be my guest.”

Her father stepped away and Chloe took his place, a hand on her waist and the other taking Beca’s hand to rest it between them against Chloe’s shoulder.

“Hi,” Chloe said softly as she subtly led them.

“Hi?” Beca was pretty sure her tone said all that was needed.

“I promise we’ll talk about it tonight. Can we just enjoy this for now? Please?” Chloe’s face was a heartbreaking combination of chagrin, fear, and hope.

Beca looked at her until she couldn’t bear the uncertainty in her eyes any longer. “Fine,” she said with a sigh as she settled into their dance.

She always did like dancing with Chloe, though slow dancing wasn’t something they did.

It was nice.

Beca kept quiet, not trusting herself to say something she’d regret so she chose to say nothing at all. She wanted to ask Chloe why she was doing this, how she thought they could ever explain it away at this point. Beca didn’t want it to go so far as one of them leaving the other at the altar, or saying, “I don’t” instead of, “I do.”

But she also really needed to ask Chloe why she felt it necessary to say something as meaningful as, “I fell in love with you,” at that moment. It wasn’t needed to sell anything. Emily assumed it to be a fact already; there was no reason to have to reinforce it. Those words weren’t to be thrown around lightly if you asked Beca. They weren’t to be used as a joke or as a lie or as anything but the absolute truth, and she never would have thought Chloe to be someone who thought anything different.

She focused on Chloe’s eyes that didn’t want to let hers go, and sometimes she looked around to see their guests, some of them talking at tables, a few of the Bellas dancing with the staff instead of allowing them to clear the tables. Her dad and Sheila were dancing, as were Roger and Marie.

All the important people in her life were there, together, happy and celebrating her life with Chloe.

It didn’t feel all that false once she set aside the not unimportant label of marriage. She did love Chloe. And Chloe loved her. She knew that implicitly. And they did have a life together and would continue to. She had been there for Chloe in sickness and in health and Chloe had definitely been there for richer or poorer...which was how they got into this whole mess to begin with. Beca didn’t need anything else to be happy. Everything she needed was in that room. Whether it was an island paradise or a cramped illegal sublet in Red Hook, there was nothing missing from her life.

“Hey, Chlo, I—”

“Okay everyone, these two have a big day tomorrow so it’s time to call it a night!”

Beca closed her eyes and silently cursed Aubrey’s timing. She wasn’t sure what combination of words was about to come out of her mouth, but she knew she’d spent a good portion of her life gathering them.

There was a groan of disappointment and Beca watched Chloe lean in closer until her lips grazed her ear. “Walk me home?”

“Yeah.” She smiled at Chloe when she pulled back. “Of course.”

* * *

Their walk was quiet. Aubrey had the thoughtfulness to allow the two of them to leave the party first and hold the others back for a few minutes and Beca was eternally grateful to not have to walk the length of the resort surrounded by everyone’s frantic, if positive, energy.

They walked along the path hand in hand until Beca had to let Chloe’s go so she could unlock their villa and hold the door for Chloe to enter.

Chloe didn’t bother to turn on a light, so Beca didn’t either. There was plenty of light from the moon’s reflection off the water and the outdoor lighting to see well enough to move through the house. Beca saw Chloe put her handbag down on the table in the sitting room, the long envelope containing their very legal marriage license sticking out of it. Beca set her own clutch down there, too, and followed her.

Chloe was doing her silent thinking thing again and while Beca had a thousand questions to ask, especially to gain clarification on one important thing Chloe had said at dinner, she couldn’t bear to interrupt the silence.

Instead, she kept following until they were in the lounge on the lagoon-side of the house. She watched Chloe step out of her wedges and then reach toward the back of her dress, only to stop and instead gather her hair to lift it off her neck.

She just stood there, her back to Beca and holding her hair up like she was expecting Beca to—

_Oh._

Beca took the few steps forward necessary to be able to reach out with embarrassingly shaky hands to unhook the eyelet at the base of Chloe’s neck and then draw the zipper down until it stopped at the curve of her lower back. She took half a step back. How many times had she seen Chloe’s smooth, strong back? She’d lost count years ago. But every time felt like the first. She ached to reach out and trail her fingers down the strip of skin she’d revealed so instead she curled her hands into fists.

Chloe was still holding her hair up and she turned her head slightly. What she said next made Beca forget her own name.

“I said you could take it off the next time.”

Beca inhaled so sharply she knew it was audible but Chloe only glanced at her sidelong before facing forward again.

What was she getting at? Was she actually asking Beca to undress her? And if so, why? Where was this going? Today—the last three days—had been a confusing, agonizing, chaotic mess and, frankly, she was mentally and emotionally exhausted. She didn’t have it in her to question it. Or contest it.

She stepped closer and lifted her hands again and hoped they didn’t feel as hot as her face did as she slipped them under the cap sleeves of Chloe’s dress to guide them down her arms.

She tried not to touch her but it was inevitable as Chloe lifted her arms a little to slip the sleeves past her wrists.

Beca had noticed it before when she’d unzipped it, but there was nothing else under the bodice of the dress. Chloe’s back was as bare as it had been at the spa.

She had to swallow at the subsequent understanding that that meant her chest was bare, too, and she took her hands back once the dress hung from Chloe’s hips. She knew it could slip down easily if Chloe moved or twisted, but she was stone-still. Beca could see her breathing, the slow, steady breaths expanding and relaxing in her back and shoulders. She was close enough that she could smell the moisturizers and oils Chloe had used that afternoon. She was close enough that if she dropped her chin a little, she could kiss her shoulder.

Chloe was waiting.

Beca held her breath as she reached out again, this time slipping her fingers between the dress and Chloe’s hips to nudge it down.

It fell easily and she heard Chloe’s steady breathing stop in the silence of the room.

Beca didn’t know what she should do. She didn’t know what was okay, or what was even happening. All she could do was what she _wanted_ to do, so she left her hands where they were, holding Chloe’s hips, bare except for an undergarment that Beca could only feel the edge of beneath her hands. All she could do was lean in and touch her lips to Chloe’s neck that was still bared and on display.

She instantly felt dizzy and hot so she stopped and waited out the silence, her lips barely touching Chloe’s skin.

Then Chloe sighed and dropped her hair to reach back until she was guiding Beca closer with a hand to the back of her head.

Beca heard herself whimper as she pressed a bold kiss to Chloe’s neck.

She couldn’t believe this was happening. Never in a hundred thousand years—

“Beca…” Chloe said through another sigh and Beca felt a hand at her waist reaching blindly and pulling until Beca was flush against her back.

_God_ , she felt amazing. Beca started to lose herself. She kissed her again. And again. And again, drawing a slow line down until her lips were on Chloe’s shoulder.

That’s when Chloe broke out of their embrace and strode forward toward the balcony.

She was out and down the ladder out of sight before Beca had even taken a much-needed breath. She heard the soft splash of water next and that’s when she moved.

She ripped at her sandals, fighting with the straps until she was kicking them off to slide who-knows-where. Her dress was next and she was sure she was going to rip it in her haste as she pulled her arms out of her sleeves and yanked the whole thing up and over her head to toss it aside to follow her.

She climbed down the ladder until she was slipping into the lagoon behind their villa. It was darker there than it had been in the house, away from the path lighting. Now it was just the moon and stars and it took a couple seconds of glancing around until she found Chloe a few yards away standing in chest-deep water looking out past the breakwater toward the ocean. Her hair was wet; she’d dove under, and Beca could see the droplets of water clinging to the skin of her arms and shoulders.

The water was a welcome coolness. It might have even been cold, but she was so overheated she wouldn’t have noticed if it was.

Beca pushed off the ladder to swim the few strokes over to her to right herself next to Chloe. She didn’t touch her. She didn’t know if she should, or even if she could. She didn’t know what was going on anymore. And if she couldn’t touch her ever again, she would learn to be content with what had happened. It was more than she could have ever dreamed of.

She finally saw Chloe turn to face her out the corner of her eye so she turned, too. Chloe still looked pensive, but a lot of the fear she’d seen in her earlier that evening was gone.

“I promised I’d fix it,” Chloe finally said.

“I know you will,” Beca replied. She didn’t think they were going to talk about this right this second but—

“I don’t want to fix it.” It was barely above a whisper.

Beca blinked and then squinted at Chloe through the darkness. “What?”

“I don’t want to fix it.”

Beca felt her heart start to give out. Or go into overdrive. Or both.

There was a quick sound of hands lifting out of the water and that’s the last thing Beca registered before Chloe kissed her.

There was a lot about her life Beca didn’t understand. Why she was the way she was. Why some people were dicks and why other people were angels like Chloe. Why she made dumb decisions and why she rarely seemed to learn from them.

There was one thing, however, she always understood, even if she didn’t know what to do with it.

She understood, without a doubt, that she was in love with Chloe.

She may have whimpered, or moaned, or made no sound at all. She did finally realize she should kiss her back.

She reached for Chloe under the water and wrapped her arms around her waist to pull her closer as she kissed her like she’d waited to do for years. She felt Chloe’s arms around her neck, water dripping shiver-inducing rivers down her back, though it might have been the way Chloe’s tongue slipped across her lip that made her shiver.

She tasted like wine and Beca pulled her closer still, her mind finally registering that what she felt against her own chest was Chloe. Nothing but the softness of Chloe pressing against her own and just as she had a fleeting thought that she should have taken off her bra when she took off her dress, she felt Chloe’s fingers pull and twist at the band and then it was gone.

She didn’t know where it went. It would probably sink or drift out to sea.

She didn’t care.

She let her hands start to roam, then. Because if Chloe was going to do _that_ , then Beca could certainly run her hands up her back.

And if Chloe was going to—

“Shit,” Beca breathed against Chloe’s lips and she might have felt guilty about breaking the silence with something so crass if Chloe hadn’t hummed a laugh and ran her fingertips across Beca’s nipples again.

Beca was about to return the favor when Chloe squealed and wrapped her arms around Beca to hug her.

Just to hug her.

But it was everything.

Then Beca had to gasp because Chloe grabbed her shoulders and used her own weight to dunk Beca right under the surface.

“Dude!” she said when she came up sputtering. The full-body soak had rung life and clarity into what had been Beca’s muddled, foggy mind. Chloe wanted her. Chloe had asked Beca to undress her. Had kissed her and touched her and didn’t want to fix this godawful mess they’d gotten themselves into.

“You weren’t nearly wet enough,” Chloe said as she hopped backward a few paces until she was swimming toward the ladder.

“Yeah, that’s…” Beca stopped and considered her response, and then decided to fuck it. All bets were off now. “That’s really not a problem I’m having right now.”

“Ooh,” Chloe sing-songed with a smile. “Beca Mitchell-Beale. You minx.”

That made Beca pause for a second, but only a second. She didn’t want her surprise to come across as anything negative so she grinned and started swimming to catch her, but Chloe was already up the ladder by the time Beca was climbing.

Her heart was pounding.

She felt positively _alive._

She thought she’d find Chloe waiting for her in the lounge but she wasn’t there. So, Beca went looking but didn’t have to go far.

She was in their bedroom with two towels in her hands, one of which she held out to Beca as soon as she entered.

“Thanks,” she said as she took it and wiped off her face before heading to the bathroom so she could wring out her hair before it dripped everywhere. She ruffled the towel through it as she padded back to the bedroom right away; she didn’t want Chloe to think she wasn’t coming right back or something and leave.

But Chloe was still there, now bent in half as she dried her legs and feet and stomach and chest until she tossed her towel onto the chair near her side of the bed.

She was naked.

Completely, totally naked.

Beca tried not to stare but she was staring. It was almost impossible given the fact that Chloe was walking toward her until Beca’s towel was in Chloe’s hands.

“Let me,” Chloe said quietly as she started patting it over Beca, starting at her neck and then down her left arm and right, down her chest which made Beca’s breath catch and Chloe wink. Over her stomach and then Beca felt Chloe’s thumbs catch the waistband of her underwear and Chloe met her eyes.

As if she needed to ask?

Beca nodded and Chloe bent a little to slip them down her legs until Beca stepped out of them.

Then the towel was back, brushing down her legs until Chloe moved it behind her to dry the backs of her legs, higher until she was on Beca’s ass which made her wink again, and across her back. She gave the ends of Beca’s hair one more squeeze in the towel and then tossed it aside to take Beca’s hand to lead.

And Beca followed.

She followed as Chloe led her to their bed and up onto it until they were side by side, smiling at each other.

“Did you mean it?” Beca finally said. At this point, she might as well ask all the questions.

Chloe’s fingertips trailed along Beca’s arm, back and forth from wrist to shoulder. “Which part?”

“Um, specifically, first...what you said at dinner. About the siren thing?”

Chloe bit her lower lip and nodded.

“Is that why you haven’t called this off?”

She nodded again and Beca’s heart thumped in her chest.

“Can you—” she swallowed and took a breath “—can you say it? Again?”

Chloe’s smile grew until her lip slipped from her teeth. “I fell in love with you. A long time ago.”

Beca exhaled so hard she was embarrassed. “Okay,” she said after a moment. “Cool.”

“Cool?” Chloe said, eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, it’s cool,” Beca said with a shrug she knew did not come across at all ‘cool.’ “Because...I am kind of...seriously in love with you, too.”

“Yeah?” Chloe said with an adorable laugh. She looked on the verge of tears and Beca understood. She was probably already crying; she didn’t know and didn’t care.

“Yeah, dude,” she said as she reached up to rest her hand against Chloe’s neck, fingertips drawing small circles on the back of it.

“I’d hoped so,” Chloe said with a small smile.

“Tell me about it,” Beca said with a roll of her eyes. “This week has been fucking agony.”

Chloe seemed shocked for a second until she burst out laughing, and crying, and nodding as she rolled onto her stomach and closer to Beca. Beca swept her hand down her back, then, finally able and allowed to do that. To touch.

She could feel Chloe crying and she didn’t try to shush her. She could cry as much as she needed to. It gave Beca time to think and process and start putting the pieces of their six-year-long puzzle together until she was sure in her conclusion.

“Hey,” she said after a few minutes when she knew the tears were subsiding.

Chloe rolled back a little to look at her and despite the tears and towel-smudged makeup, she’d never looked more beautiful. “Hmm?”

Beca reached for Chloe’s left hand where it was tucked between them and laced their hands together, making sure to run her fingers across the pearl Chloe was wearing. “I don’t want to fix it either.”

Chloe stared at her for a solid minute before she burst out laughing again. She laughed so hard she rolled away and onto her back and Beca sat up, smiling but a little unsure what the hysterics meant, to look down at her and appreciate everything about the moment.

“Oh, my God, this is crazy,” Chloe groaned as she wiped more tears off her cheeks. “Hey, Beca?”

“Yeah?”

Chloe turned her head so she could look up at her and she smiled. “Will you marry me tomorrow?”

Beca didn’t know she’d waited her entire life to hear those words until they were on Chloe’s lips.

“You’re such a nerd,” she managed to say despite being unable to breathe. “Yeah, I’ll marry you.”

She leaned down to kiss her fiancée. Her _real_ fiancée.

“Wait,” Chloe said after a few seconds and Beca pulled back.

“What?”

“We’re already married.”

Beca laughed and laid down again, this time as close to Chloe as she could be without being on top of her. “Yeah, I guess we are.” She ran her fingers along Chloe’s stomach and felt her suck it in at the tickle so she smoothed her hand over it instead. “Does that make tonight our wedding night?”

She was teasing. Mostly.

Chloe looked at her for a second before leaning in to kiss her. It was soft this time, and slow, and gentle, and her hand came to rest over Beca’s on her abdomen to pull Beca’s arm around her waist. “No,” she said when they parted. “That’s tomorrow night.”

“Oh.” Beca wasn’t totally sure why that made her breathless. They were in love. And married. And engaged. And naked in bed together. But there was a lot about her life Beca didn’t understand. “Okay.”

“Tonight,” Chloe said as she shifted onto her side until she was the one almost on top of Beca, “we just do this.”

Beca sighed as Chloe’s lips touched hers.

There was no “just” about it.

It was everything.

* * *

_**To be continued...** _


	5. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone for coming on this magical little ride with me! xo

* * *

Beca knew what Chloe would be wearing. She’d been with her when she bought it, wine drunk and slaphappy. She’d helped her pick it out from dozens of options they tried on together.

That said, nothing could have prepared her for seeing Chloe in the dress she’d chosen for what began as a ruse of a wedding that was now very, very real.

“Chlo, you’re—” her voice caught and she covered her mouth to muffle the sob that was threatening to escape. Chloe’s dress was so, so perfect. It was the color of sage (Chloe had insisted on following their chosen color scheme), spaghetti-strapped, cinched at her waist and flowy at her knees. Her red curls were styled up, though several wild tendrils escaped to frame her face. And she was barefoot. Beca couldn’t even finish her sentence so she just nodded.

“You, too,” Chloe replied with a watery laugh.

Beca’s dress was white and gray, a sleeveless wrap-style long enough to touch her toes. She hadn’t known what to do with her hair; the humidity had made it impossible so she’d surrendered and simply clipped the sides back. When she’d arrived at the ceremony grounds, Aubrey had taken her aside and slipped a white hibiscus blossom into one of her clips.

All she wanted to do was rush across the empty space between them and kiss Chloe but she knew she could wait. She could wait until they got to the altar where she would take Chloe’s hand and slip the pale blue pearl onto her finger one last time while she recited the vows she’d written that morning.

It had been as effortless as it was freeing to write them.

* * *

“They’re going to expect us to kiss,” Chloe whispered behind the backs of their fathers as the ceremony began.

Beca smiled at her. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

* * *

“Wait—Chloe,” Beca said with a groan as she helplessly tilted her head to accommodate the way Chloe’s mouth was attacking her neck. It felt amazing. She felt amazing. Chloe’s hand felt amazing between Beca’s legs where it had been for an hour.  _ Chloe _ was amazing. “I need—I just need to catch my breath for, like, five minutes, okay?”

Chloe’s laugh vibrated against her throat and with a final nip, Chloe backed off and settled next to her.

Honeymoons were fucking awesome.

“Sorry,” Chloe said with another, lighter kiss, this time to her cheek. “Can’t help it.”

“Seriously, do  _ not _ apologize.”

It made Chloe giggle again so Beca pinched her side.

“I’ve been so—” Beca paused, trying to figure out what word to use, “wound up all week. Trust me; I’m not finished with you yet.”

She felt Chloe’s fingers walking up her stomach until they were tapping lightly on her sternum. “Is that your way of telling me you’ve been horny this entire trip? Because you can just say you’re horny.”

Hearing it made Beca blush and she rolled her eyes because, honestly, they were married and talking about sex with Chloe should not make her blush anymore. Not after the evening they’ve shared so far. “Okay, yeah. Horny.”

  
Chloe wiggled higher next to her until her lips were touching her ear and Beca couldn’t help but smile. “Tell you a secret?” 

“Please do.”

“I saw you touching yourself in the shower the day you slipped.”

A different kind of heat flooded Beca, this time of complete embarrassment and she tried to sit up but Chloe was too quick and pinned her down. She hid behind her hands instead. “Oh, my God.”

“I didn’t see anything if that makes you feel better,” Chloe said with a sigh that sounded a little exasperated by Beca’s shyness. “I got up to use the bathroom and saw you leaning against the wall and I could see it on your face. It was really sexy,” she added in a hushed voice.

Beca was about to refute Chloe’s claims until she relived the series events in her mind. “Wait.” She dropped her hands from her face. If Chloe saw her, that had to have been before Beca had seen  _ her _ which meant… “Did you go back to bed so you could touch yourself after you saw me doing it?” She sat up and Chloe let her that time. “Oh, my God, did you get turned on watching me?!” She was thrilled. She was bowled over. She was on Cloud Nine.

“Wait, you could see…?” It was Chloe’s turn to blush and look shocked.   
  
“I didn’t see everything if that makes you feel better,” Beca teased. “Mostly, I just saw…” She bit her lip and reached for Chloe to slip her fingers between her thighs. Chloe moaned as her legs slid restlessly against the sheets at her sudden caress and Beca nodded down at her. “Yeah, mostly I just saw that.”

She didn’t ease her touching; the way Chloe’s eyelashes were fluttering told her she wouldn’t be happy if Beca stopped and having learned tonight—just tonight, she could still measure it in minutes—of the way Chloe’s body responded to her, she grew bolder.

“So I guess that means I should tell you a secret, too,” she continued.

“What is it?” Chloe said with a sigh as her back arched a little at a firm press of Beca’s fingers. 

“I touched myself again watching you.”

Chloe groaned and her entire body rolled. “You did?”

“Yeah, I didn’t slip. I was coming and forgot to not lean on the door and I fell through it.”

Chloe laughed and her hand moved to touch Beca’s back. “Oh, no!”

“Oh, yeah,” Beca said as she started moving down the bed, keeping her pace on Chloe nice and steady. “You were asking if I was okay and I was literally having an orgasm.” She pressed her lips to the curve of Chloe’s breast. “On the floor.” Lower, on her ribs. “Right in front of you.” Lower still, on her stomach. “While you were touching me.”

Chloe moaned as her fingers slid through Beca’s hair, her whole body rolling again. 

“Maybe we can watch each other for real some time,” she added, feeling bold, and smiled to herself when Chloe pushed her down the rest of the way. “But not tonight. You’re mine tonight.”

Yeah. Honeymoons were awesome. 

* * *

“You know, you can drop the act now,” Amy said as the three women waited at the tiny airport in Savusavu to catch the hang glider to their proper plane. “I gotta hand it to you, though. You know how to put on a show. If I was still a member of The Academy, you’d both get Oscars for that performance.”

They weren’t doing anything, not  _ really _ . Just holding hands. And bumping feet playfully. And maybe Chloe’s lips were on her ear at the moment (and recently were also on her neck, shoulder, and mouth).

“I know a really good divorce lawyer. I’ll hook you up with him when we get back. Consider it my payment for all the sweet new stuff waiting for us at home.”

“We, uh,” Beca said, having to pause to shiver at Chloe’s tongue that was starting to not leave her skin alone and  _ honestly, Chloe, we are in public _ , “we need to talk about our living arrangements when we get back, Ames.”

“Def. We can sell some of our new swag and get a bigger place!”

Beca smiled at her best friend, deciding it was time. “Amy?”

“Yeah?”

“You wanna tell us now how everyone we know got invited?”

“Whaaaat?” Amy sang, eyes wide and instantly guilty. She started gesturing at Chloe, arm waving in the air. “Chloe’s spreadsheet got corrupted like she said!”

Beca narrowed her eyes at her and felt Chloe stop kissing her to pay attention to their conversation. “You want to stick to that story? Because I think what happened is that you thought it would be fun to make your own list and see what we’d do for your personal entertainment.”

Amy kept up her stare of incredulousness for a few more seconds until she sighed and let out a loud belly laugh complete with knee slap. “Okay, ya got me, Shawshank! I confess. I did a little James Bond hacking to see what would happen. I’m just so bored! You two are gone every day at your jobs and Fat Amy Winehouse isn’t gaining the traction I expected—”

“Amy, you really could have messed up our lives,” Chloe said, her voice serious but Beca patted her knee to let her know they shouldn’t get  _ that _ mad about it. After all, that morning before leaving for the airport they had celebrated their one-week anniversary. Three times.

“But it’s fine,” Beca continued. It was time to break the news. “We should thank you.”

“Thank me? Why?”

“We’re not getting divorced when we get home.”

Amy’s eyes were wide again. “You’re not?”

Beca shook her head. “We want to stay married.”

Amy jumped to her feet. “So...you’re telling me Bhloe’s real?”

Beca nodded and laughed. “Yeah, Bhloe’s real.”

Amy slapped her stomach, then pounded her fist on her chest, kissed it, and pointed to the sky in gratitude. “I’m a genius.”

“Why are you a genius?” Chloe asked. Beca felt her fingernails tickling the back of her neck and she shivered again.

“Because you two just needed a shove to figure out you’re meant to be together. I’ve lived around you long enough to know you were in love and too dumb to know what to do about it.”

“Amy,” was all Beca could say and she felt Chloe’s forehead fall to her shoulder. “Seriously? This wasn’t because you were bored? You were trying to get us to hook up?”

“Aye-aye, cap,” Amy said with a salute.

“And you couldn’t have come up with a less...complicated way to do that?”

“Who’s idea was it to have a fake wedding?”

Beca didn’t have a quick response to that and she heard Chloe laughing quietly as she hugged Beca’s arm. “Yeah, well...we’re moving out when we get back.” At least she had that card in play.

Amy gasped and clutched her heart. “You’re what?! Who’s going to pay the rent?!”

“Maybe you should have thought of that before trying to see if we’d marry each other. What did you think would happen? We’d keep living together even if we got married?”

“Well...yeah!”

“Amy, I love you,” Chloe said sweetly, “but we need to get our own place now.”

“I think you need to pay me a dowry for landing you that one,” Amy said to Beca as she pointed at Chloe.

“To help you pay the rent after we move out?”

“Yeah.”

“No, Amy.”

Amy whirled in a dramatic circle. “This is how you thank me?”

Beca squirmed at a pinch to her side before Chloe said, “We’re going to thank you by not making you share a studio apartment with a newlywed couple who have years of sex to catch up on. And, spoiler alert: we really like having sex. With each other. A lot.”

Amy froze and then dropped back into her seat. “Fine.”

“Chlo,” Beca whispered with a laugh and a little bit of embarrassment. She was still adjusting.

“Mm, speaking of,” Chloe said with a suggestive hum as she took Beca’s hand and stood up to start walking backward. “We should use the restroom before we get on the plane.”

Beca stood up, too, but didn’t let Chloe pull her further. “I’m good. I went right before we—”

“She wants to bone you in the loo, genius,” Amy said as she literally kicked Beca’s ass to push her toward Chloe.

Beca caught herself from being thrown into Chloe, but just barely. “Oh.”

“Thanks, Amy,” Chloe said over her shoulder before winking at Beca.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll start looking for a new roomie or two on Tinder when we get back.”

Chloe laughed and turned to walk purposefully through the shack that served as the terminal and Beca sped up so she wasn’t being dragged.

“We’re going to do it in the bathroom?” she whispered harshly, though the building was almost empty.

Chloe shoved the restroom door open and did a quick check under the two stalls before she pulled Beca into the larger one and locked it. Beca’s pulse was already racing. This was nuts. She didn’t do things like this in public.  _ Ever. _

“No,  _ I’m _ going to do it,” Chloe said before kissing Beca as she made quick work of getting Beca’s shorts down to her ankles before dropping to her knees. “Is this okay?” she asked before doing anything else, looking up at Beca.

“Yeah,” Beca said after having to swallow. Because it was. It was also new and a little scary, but she trusted Chloe. She figured...that’s what marriage was. New and a little scary but full of trust from the second it became real. And now she had a new book—not a chapter, an entire  _ book _ —of her life. Maybe having a little fun in an airport bathroom in the South Pacific fell at the end of Chapter 2, after Chapter 1’s wedding and 2’s honeymoon. “It’s okay.”

But it wasn’t just okay.

It was everything.


End file.
